Enemies of Cocoon
by Culture Shockk
Summary: Highschool AU: Five classmates from two different cultures and social classes accidentally stumble upon a Pulse Fal'Cie during a school field trip. With new found powers, they must figure out how to blend in at school and complete their focus before time runs out. FLight
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is my first story, so I want to apologize beforehand if it sucks. I don't claim ownership of Final Fantasy or its characters. I'm rating it M (just to be safe) for language, violence, and possible sexual situations (was never really good at writing that kind of stuff). I kind of have an idea of where I want this to go, so depending on how well I can stick with this and the reception it gets will determine if I end it one way or opt to for another way, giving it a sequel. Hope it's entertaining!

* * *

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Serah! You've been in there for almost an hour! Hurry up or we're going to miss the bus! Again!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" a muffled yet unnervingly calm voice replied from behind the bathroom door.

Lightning let out a long, tired breath and walked away from the closed bathroom door that connected her room to her younger sister's. She made her way down the stairs of the big house and into the kitchen. The table had been set, just like it had been every other morning, for her and her bathroom-hog-of-a-sister to actually sit down and eat breakfast before sprinting outside just in time to miss the bus. This morning wouldn't be much different.

Lightning swiped two brown bags from the counter and started packaging some of the breakfast items into them. Even if they couldn't eat now, they could at least eat something on the walk to school. She had just finished rolling the top of one bag closed when she heard three loud raps against the house's front door. "What the hell…?" She snagged a glass of orange juice from the table on her way out of the kitchen to the door.

She swung the door open and didn't even attempt to hide the dismay that openly splayed across her face.

"Hiya, neighbor."

"I'm not your neighbor." With that, Lightning slammed the door closed in the face of the blonde giant standing on her doorstep.

She ignored the offended, "Heyyy!" that sounded from outside and flicked her eyes upward toward the ceiling.

"Serah!" she called. No answer. Two more ignored knocks on the door. "Serah, why is Snow Villiers knocking on our door?"

If Lightning had known she'd get this kind of reaction, she would've started using the buffoon's name a long time ago as an incentive to get her sister out of the bathroom. She heard a single loud thump from above, followed by the slamming of a door and the pattering of feet rushing down the stairs. "Snow's here?!" Her little sister, who was almost a splitting image of her, appeared at the bottom of the staircase. They both had crystal clear blue eyes, although Serah's was bit steelier color, and light pink hair.

"Good morning, Serah," Lightning said coolly.

"Good morning, Serah!" parroted an enthusiastic voice from the other side of the door. _Too enthusiastic_, Lightning thought to herself, shooting a fierce look behind her at the door with a low growl.

"Light! You didn't let him in?!" Serah gasped and rushed forward, callously pushed her sister out of the way in the process. The poor door was once again flung open. As if he had been preparing for this moment his whole life, when the door fully opened to reveal Snow, he was using his forearm to lean against the doorway, his head resting on a balled fist with an attempt at a debonair smile plastered on his face.

"Hi."

Lightning rolled her eyes and let a loud, "ugh…" She reached forward to grab Serah's wrist and pull her further back into the house. "Villiers. Why is he here?" she asked, ignoring the trench-coated oaf in the doorway who blocked most of the morning sun from streaming in.

"Welllllll," Serah eyes shifted from Lightning to Snow, "Yesterday we were talking and I mentioned how we can never manage to make it to the bus on time, so we always have to walk and end up being late for school. Then Snow offered to drive us since we ARE neighbors, after all, and I thought it was a great idea."

Lightning just glared at her sister, only once glancing away to give Snow an equal dosage of glare. "You two were talking yesterday?"

"CLAIRE!"

Lightning sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. She checked her wrist for the time. At this rate, they would be late again. It wasn't good for Serah to be this tardy all the time for her freshman year. She would get a bad reputation among the faculty. As a junior, even though she couldn't say that she was favored by any particular teacher, Lightning had already proven herself to be a good, dependable student.

Light slowly lifted her eyes back to Serah. Serah's face lit up immediately. "Yayy! I call shotgun." With that, she zipped past both Lightning and Snow and out the door.

Snow awkwardly swung back and forth from his heels to toes. He tried to give Lightning a modest, toothy smile, but it just ended up looking uncomfortable. Lightning responded by giving him a look that was icy enough to make a snowman shiver.

"Uhh… I'll just wait in the car while, uh, you lock up." Snow took a couple of backward steps away from the door before turning and breaking out into a brisk power walk to the red convertible that was parked on the curb.

After Lightning had scooped up their breakfasts, she made her way out the door toward Snow's car. They lived in a pretty white bread neighborhood. Lightning, Serah, and Snow were part of the families that lived in the twelve houses that circled a round dead end. It was a quiet, secluded area. All the houses were at least two stories made of brick with their own garages and yards. A thick wall of trees and bushes lined the back of all the yards, which further separated them from the outside neighborhoods. Lightning and Serah's house was located at the bottom end of the circular drive, which was about five houses away from Snow, who lived on the last house lining the round-about before hitting the road that led outwards. Because of the glamour of some of the houses and the income of those who owned them, the area had been nicknamed Candy Court. Lightning couldn't have thought up a more embarrassing name.

* * *

Snow slowed the car as they entered the crowded school parking lot.

"Wow," Serah said in mock awe, observing all the students that were just hanging about. "Looks a lot different when you actually arrive on time, doesn't it Light?"

"And whose fault is that?" Lightning replied without missing a beat.

Serah ignored her sister and immediately turned her attention to Snow. "Thank you so much for the ride! If it wouldn't be too much trouble… we should do this every morning."

Snow had just pulled into a parking spot. He opened his mouth to reply but Lightning beat him to the punch. "It'd be too much trouble."

Serah whipped her head to the back seat to shoot Lightning a dirty look while Snow uncomfortably rubbed the back of his bandana-covered head. "Uh… we'll see how things go."

"Things better not go far," Lightning mumbled, climbing out of the car. She waited for the other two to follow suit, not wanting to leave them alone with so much time to kill before the first bell rang. Thankfully, or even more so annoyingly, Serah was called over by a group of excited friends who seemed to be going ape shit crazy over the fact that she arrived to school in Snow's passenger seat. Lightning silently wondered if anyone was as impressed about her being driven in the back Ms. Daisy-style as she quickly strode across the lot.

"Y'know, Lightning," Snow jogged up to his peer's side, "I know you don't have a high opinion of me and all after the whole cootie scandal of third grade—"

Lightning's eyes turned on Snow, sharp as daggers. She didn't want or expect having to interact with him this long. Snow gulped and rubbed his gloved hands together, unsure of whether he should go on or just cut his losses. "But, I, uh… I've really matured a lot since we were nine, you know."

"SNOW! About time your big blonde ass showed up! I was just telling these lovely ladies here about last week when we tried to throw that pool party at the MacFaddens' place, but we didn't know the MacFaddens were still in town!"

The comment was followed by a bunch of laughter. Snow quickly turned to the group of kids gathered around a car not too far away and made quick hand signals for them to stop.

Lightning shook her head in disbelief. "Matured, huh? If you're so mature, why are you even talking to a freshman in the first place?" Snow was notorious around school for throwing the best ragers and there were always girls clambering to hang out with him, hoping to get special invites or privileges.

Once again, before Snow could answer, he was cut off. "Wait, is that Farron? Did you two ride here together? Dude, you must've really gotten in good with the sister!"

Lightning barely heard Snow apologizing before her feet led her to stand toe to toe with the offender, a muscled, brute of a boy named Gadot. He easily towered over her, and looked down on her with an easy smile. In order to accentuate the size difference, he tightly crossed his arms against his chest. It was as if the boy was allergic to sleeves because even in winter, none of his shirts seemed to have them. This particular shirt was loud orange, which coincidentally matched the brightly colored Mohawk on his head. "Wowww." He dragged the word out. "I've been waiting for you to finally make a move toward me. What finally lit a fire under your ass?" The smile never left his face.

Lightning raised a single brow and made a show of flicking her eyes up to his hair and back down again. "I don't know. Probably the same bad decision making that lit that fire on your head." She could feel herself inching herself up, to no avail, to be on a more even level with the boy. His smile somewhat faltered, losing a bit of it's smugness, but he still let it play on his lips as to not show any sign of being offended.

"HA!" A harsh laugh burst from beside them. Lightning never broke eye contact with Gadot. "Hahaha…" the laughter continued, now accompanied by light clapping. "Whew. She's gotta point there, mate. That was some literal hell-fire decision-makin'. As in ya kinda look like hell cuz of it. Hahaha."

Gadot was the first to break eye contact, now facing the new, somewhat exotic voice. "Ladies love the hawk."

"Yuj and yer mum don't count."

A bit of light laughter sounded among the group.

Now Lightning turned to face the voice. She found herself staring dead into a pair of deep emerald eyes. Eyes that were locked on her own as if they were learning all the world's secrets by staring into them. She was so caught off-guard by the intensity of the stare that she was stunned for a moment, until she felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder. "He didn't mean anything by that," Snow mumbled in a low voice.

"He better not have," she replied, roughly shrugging his hand from her shoulder and turning to leave.

"Wait. Farron." Green Eyes' voice called out to her. Lightning slightly turned to semi-face the girl. It was then that she noticed the actual girl. She had been too caught up in the surprise stare-down to notice much else than her eyes before. Now that she thought about it, it was actually hard to not notice the girl's… physique. She was lying, arms folded, across the hood of an old, beat up, multicolored car. At once the vehicle may have been red, but it now looked an orangey salmon, with a green passenger door and a faded sky-blue bumper. The girl wore baggy black pants and a black, bra-like top that exposed her naturally tanned midriff under a loose, unbuttoned jean shirt. Lightning's eyes traveled from her tennis to the top of her head, which was covered in a messy mop of raven hair with scarlet tips that actually suited the girl quite well. Dangling from her neck and ears were different types of jewelry made from multicolored beads, shells, and crystals. It looked… she was… Pulsian?

Lightning's eyes drifted the short distance back down to capture the eyes that had caught her attention so effectively before. However, those eyes weren't giving her that same intense stare. That is, not to her face. Lightning could see the girl's eyes slowly roving her body as well. "Ahem!" Lightning loudly cleared her throat.

The girl coolly returned her focus to Lightning's face, her lips slightly tilted in one-sided smile and her face wearing an expression as if she had not been caught doing anything wrong. "So," the word smoothly rolled off the girl's tongue, the faint smile on her face slowly starting to widen, "what would I have to do to light a fire under your ass?" Her eyes dropped down to the body part in question.

Lightning's eyes widened and she felt her face grow hot. The surrounding group broke out into loud laughter and the smile that the Pulsian had been previously holding back now covered her whole face as she dapped off her peers. Lightning couldn't think of a comeback this time. She just felt humiliated. She spun on her heel and marched towards the school.

"Aye! Don't be like that! It was just a joke!" the accented voice called after her.

"Lightning! Fang, what the hell?!" She could clearly hear Snow even as she moved further and further away.

"Hey, don't worry. Me an' that girl, we've got history."

* * *

Lightning sat at her desk with her face buried in her hands. She and 'Fang' literally had history class together. She actually couldn't believe it. How could she not notice that she had a class with a Pulsian? If the girl's looks didn't stick out like a sore thumb, then her accent surely should have.

When she first entered the room and took her usual seat in the middle of the class, she heard light shuffling followed by the slam of books on the desk behind her. "Hello, Heatwave."

"Lightning."

"Lightbug."

Instead of answering, Lightning turned in her chair to glare at the girl now seated behind her.

"Lightning," the girl corrected herself with a wide, amused smile. Lightning noticed that she was now wearing a black t-shirt and ripped jeans. She wasn't bearing as much skin as she had been before outside but the t-shirt revealed enough of her arm for Lightning to quickly peep part of a large tattoo on her upper left arm.

Lightning let out an exasperated puff and turned back to face the front. She heard the creak of the desk as the girl behind her scooted forward. "About this mornin', that was nothin' personal right?"

Lightning grunted.

The girl must've interpreted that as a sign to continue. "Because I thought it was all outta fun. And Snow really wants me to apologize and I usually don't hang out with them that much so my behavior shouldn't have any—"

"Can you shut up? Class is starting," Lightning hissed.

There was a shocked silence from behind her as the teacher started pacing the front of the room and talking about some type of field trip. Lightning felt her shoulders relax. Maybe the girl would leave her alone now. "Well," the girl whispered in dramatic disbelief, proving Lightning totally wrong and making her grind her teeth. "Lighting a fire under your ass doesn't seem to be as big a problem as pullin' those knotted up knickers out of it."

"HEY!" Lightning exploded, immediately slamming her chair back into the girl's desk before turning and slapping her palms down on its surface.

"Ms. Farron!" the teacher barked from the front of the class. Lightning tried to calm herself down, forcing herself to take slower, more even breaths. It was hard with Pulsian staring back at her, that slight smirk returned to her face and her eyes giving Lightning a look that asked, "What are you gonna do?"

Lightning slowly turned around and scooted her chair back up to her desk, keeping her eyes downcast. The teacher eyed her incredulously. "Well, Ms. Farron, since the subject moves you to such excitement, I will be putting you down for Saturday's field trip to the Vestige."

"Wait… what?" Lightning lifted her head to give the teacher a questioning look.

"Oh, were you not paying attention? Was your conversation with Fang too important?" Lightning didn't reply but continued to gaze at her teacher in confusion. "Before I was so rudely interrupted," he began without waiting for an answer, "I was briefing the class on the details of an optional field trip to the Vestige on Saturday. A field trip that has now become mandatory for you."

Lightning groaned and slid into her seat. "Unless, that is, you want mandatory Saturday detentions instead. For a month."

"No, sir," Lightning replied glumly. "But what about… Fang?" She glanced behind her and received a confirmatory nod from the Pulsian.

"Fang did not disrupt my class," the teacher said matter-of-factly, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "Besides, Fang already signed up to go on this trip a week ago."


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe you got stuck going on Mr. Palmer's Vestige trip," Serah chuckled. She was sitting on the island in the kitchen, peeling an orange. "You NEVER act up in school."

"It wasn't my fault," Lightning defended. "Someone in class kept messing with me."

"You always think someone's messing with you." Serah smiled and playfully flicked a piece of orange peel at her sister. Lightning swatted the incoming fruit waste away, the ghost of a smile on her face. It was something that Serah had dubbed, and planned to copyright as, the Smiletning, despite how unclever her sister consistently pointed out the name to be.

"You're Smiletning again," she said in a sing- voice.

"What did I tell you about using that word?" Lightning walked past and snatched the orange out of Serah's hand. She peeled off a slice and tossed it back. "People will think that we made up an imaginary language again. Remember when we were little and we started speaking Spanish in front of Gadot? He made fun of us for a week for having our own 'cotton candy conversations'." Lightning moved her fingers in imaginary quotations as she spoke the alliteration that started her childhood feud with Gadot. It wasn't much later that he and Snow started the cootie scandal that had her marred as a broken woman only at the tender age of nine…

"First of all, Gadot is an idiot," Serah said with a smile. Lightning nodded in agreement, nibbling at the edge of her orange slice. "Second of all, you don't care what people think about you. And last but not least, smiletening is a real word. I'm going to have it erected into the dictionary."

Lightning rolled her eyes and Serah puffed out her chest and cleared her throat before continuing, "Smiletening. Definition: Smiletening is the illusion of a smile made possible by loosening one's expression out of a usual scowl form and in a way performing most of the smile with one's eyes. The one smiletening will appear to be smiling, but when given a closer look, it is realized that the person's lips are straighter than the equator."

"Huh?" Lightning cut in quizzically but was immediately waved off by her sister.

"This act is usually performed by misers, vegetables, and my sister. But it's cute and endearing, nonetheless."

"Why, thank you," Lightning said, bowing her head sarcastically. "That means so much."

"My pleasure," Serah responded with a tight-lipped smile. "But really, considering the field trip, at least you'll have some company."

Lightning stopped nibbling on her orange and furrowed her brow. "Who?" Anyone that her sister considered good company couldn't really be good company. She loved her sister, but many a time she found herself questioning the girl's social judgment.

"Well, Snow and Gadot will be there. Yayyyy for coincidences, right?"

Lightning arched an unexcited eyebrow in response, spurring Serah to continue. "They got hooked into it for sleeping in class. Lebreau will be there. She finally got caught for carving lewd drawings of the teachers into her desk."

"I've sat at that desk once. I learned more during that class period than I ever did in sex ed," Lightning muttered, finishing off her slice of orange.

"And Hope and Vanille willingly signed up to go."

"Hope's going?" Lightning asked. Hope was another boy who lived in Candy Court. He was a bit younger than Serah, and definitely too young to be in high school, but the kid was a genius. Because of that, he was allowed to leave his middle school at midday to take more advanced courses at the high school. "I didn't think history was one of his prescribed courses. And I'm definitely sure Mr. Palmer can't teach it better than someone at the middle school."

"Nah, I think he's only going because he has a crush on Vanille."

"Who's Vanille?" Lightning asked, checking the time. She would have to leave soon.

"One of my friends. You've definitely seen her around. She's a bit of a history buff, but I don't think she gets to talk a lot about it. No one takes her views that seriously and she doesn't like talking about it with her best friend, who she lives with. She says it makes her angry…" Serah's voice trailed off at that last sentence. Her face looked downtrodden, and Lightning could tell that she did feel sorry about her friend who had no one to share her passion with.

"I've… gotta leave," Lightning rested a hand on Serah's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm sure your friend will have lots of people to indulge her at the museum." Lightning nodded resolutely, as if approving her own statement, and started heading for the front door. She never was that good with handling emotions.

"No, they won't," Serah said in a low voice. She could hear Lightning shuffling about in the adjacent room and knew that she probably couldn't hear her. "She's from Pulse."

"Serah!" Lightning called back as she placed one foot out the door, "If Dad stops home and asks where I am, tell him about the field trip to the Vestige. Just don't tell him it's a punishment."

"Okay," Serah shouted back. She heard the door slam shut and hopped off the counter. She threw away the orange remains and headed upstairs to her room. Her mind was clouded with thoughts about not being able to express thoughts and feelings to others, especially to the ones who you want to share them the most with… Sometimes Lightning was as bad as Vanille.

* * *

"The exhibit you will be touring is about the evolution of Cocoon technology, with and without the Fal'Cie," Mr. Palmer announced in a monotone voice, holding a Vestige brochure over his head.

"For someone who created an optional field trip and forced all of us to go, he sure doesn't sound like someone who wants to be here," Lebreau murmured out the side of her mouth to Lightning.

Lightning grunted in response. She crossed her arms tighter across her chest, not looking forward to how long this three hour trip would really feel, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"We have accomplished many an academic, technological, and social feat here in Cocoon, and it is a lot to be proud of!" Mr. Palmer's eyes rolled sideways to linger unappreciatively at the two girls to his left who were quietly snickering amongst each other. "And something to be respected!" He put a lot of emphasis on the last word, his eyes never leaving the girls.

The taller of the two let out one last chuckle but tried to cover it up to sound as if she were clearing her throat. She then stood straight and rested her hands on her hips, leaning a little to one side. She tilted her head up at Mr. Palmer as if to say, "Go on," while the shorter girl, who had red hair in pig tails and wore clothing much too revealing for a museum, jumped up brightly and clasped her hands in front of her. She nodded her head enthusiastically.

Mr. Palmer watched the two of them warily, not sure whether to find some sort of reprimand or not. Alas, he couldn't punish two of the three students who actually volunteered to go on the trip from free will, so he turned back to the rest of the class and continued.

"I'd respect Cocoon technology soooo much more if it could make more like her," Lebreau breathed, nodding her head towards Fang.

Lightning let out a huff of contempt before eying Fang herself. The raven-haired girl had already lost attention to what Mr. Palmer was saying and was lolling her head around, looking at the ceiling. "Oh yeah," Lightning said sardonically, watching now as Fang's tongue stuck slightly out the side of her mouth and her eyes rolled backwards into her head as she now continued to roll her head around more vigorously in a semicircular motion. "She's a beaut, alright."

The redheaded girl playfully smacked Fang in the stomach. Fang immediately stopped her freakish head roll and gave the girl a wide grin before lightly bumping her with her hip. Lightning even had to admit it was kind of cute.

"Well, I think she's hot," Lebreau whispered.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Lightning asked quietly, still studying the two girls in the corner. She wasn't entirely positive, but the garb and jewelry of the redheaded girl led her to believe that she must be a Pulsian too, even if she did not share most of the more famous, text-bookish traits.

"Doesn't mean I can't admire the view. You know, word through the grapevine is that she swings for our team."

"Our team?" Lightning asked. "What is our team? What is even your team?"

"It's kind of like red rover. If I call 'em over and they can't run past me, they're on my team."

"Don't ever say that out loud again," Lightning admonished. She had forgotten that she was still staring until she was once again looking straight into those now familiar emerald green gems that Fang had somehow acquired as eyes. Lightning quickly snapped her head back to the direction of Mr. Palmer. From the corner of the room, Fang smirked to herself before slowly turning her attention back to the teacher as well.

"So with that being said, I will hand out your work booklets. For those who are here to further themselves intellectually," Mr. Palmer strode forward to hand two booklets to Fang and her friend, "if you get above a 90, you will receive extra credit in your history class."

"For those who are here as punishment," he looked up and made a 'come hither' motion with his free hand. There were too many bodies and he didn't feel like walking the circle the group of students made to deliver them personally, "If you get above a 90, you will not have to serve any future Saturday detentions for whatever grievance you committed to get you here."

There was a rush of people crowding to grab their booklet followed by an almost simultaneous groan among the masses once everyone realized how thick it was. "Mr. Estheim… you can do whatever your young heart desires with this. Use it as an informational guide, or firewood. I don't really care." Mr. Palmer handed the last booklet to the youngest member of the party. Hope timidly accepted and took a few steps back behind Mr. Palmer where he had been standing by himself.

"Now!" Mr. Palmer continued, "There are a lot of you, but there are a limited number of tapes for you to use in order to experience each stop of the exhibit more fully and better answer the questions in your booklet."

"Etro… He's trying to make sure that every sense is equally tortured in this trip," Lebreau whined.

"Therefore, you will have to break into groups of twos and share!"

Lightning immediately turned to Lebreau who nodded in agreement without even being asked. Across the room, Fang smiled and held up her arm for the redheaded girl to bump her own forearm against. "Steelguard!" Near the center of the room, Snow lifted his shoulder to block the fake punches that Gadot was currently barraging him with. Lightning watched with a look of disparagement. When Gadot noticed their audience, he stopped tapping Snow's shoulder to eye Lightning lecherously. The upper right side of Lightning's lip rose to accentuate the disgust that her scowl could not possibly display properly on its own. Gadot laughed and blew her a kiss. Lightning responded by giving him the finger.

The overall group just so happened to be composed of an odd number. Hope, naturally the odd man out, silently made his way through the crowd of students. Lightning spotted him immediately. "Poor kid," Lebreau lamented. "Wanna call him over to join us?"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded. "Ho—" the word hadn't even fully left her mouth before she fell silent. Hope had made his way over to Fang and the redheaded girl. He seemed to be giving the redheaded girl all his attention, occasionally looking in Fangs direction but never for long. The redhead smiled and nodded her head while Fang mussed the boy's hair.

"Well, I'll be…" Lebreau said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Little poindexter Estheim's got some moves."

"His dad would have a stroke if he knew he was willingly grouping with Pulsians," Lightning responded, somewhat curious of the young boy's actions herself. "Serah said that the only reason he came here was because he had a crush on some girl in… Oh."

"If partnering with one would give Papa Hope a stroke, then a crush might send him into cardiac arrest," Lebreau joked, paging through the thick booklet in her hands.

"Settle down, settle down," Mr. Palmer called from the front of the room, raising and lowering his hands in the air. "Do you all have partners?" He was answered by incoherent murmuring. "Good! Now wish them adieu and wait until I assign you your real partners."

Protests erupted through out the entire room. "Hehe, I just love doing that," Mr. Palmer chuckled before calling out the first two paired names.

It wasn't long before Lebreau's name was called. She was paired with Gadot. "Well, that was anticlimactic," she said, turning to shrug an apology before walking forward to stand with Gadot.

"Farron and Oerba Yun!"

Oerba Yun? Lightning stepped forward. She had a feeling… "Lightwad," a genial, accented voice greeted her.

"Oerba Yun?" she returned, her facial expression showing her critical opinion of the last name.

Fang's face dropped into and expression of mild irritation and she looked past Lightning towards the teacher. "Hmph… Bloody don't teach you Cocoonians anything about Gran Pulsian culture…" she muttered, reaching her hand out toward Mr. Palmer to receive the tape player.

"Now, hopefully you two can get along better in here so that you do NOT disturb my class in the future." Mr. Palmer eyed each girl carefully before handing Fang the player.

"Cause one thing we learn in your class is that history never repeats itself, yeah?" Fang replied with a light smile. Mr. Palmer responded with an unimpressed stare that almost read, 'Say another word, and I will end you.' Fang's face once again dropped, and she quietly took the tape player. "Just no pleasing anyone today, is there..."

The last group called was that of Oerba Dia and Villiers. Hope was allowed to choose to tag along with any group he desired, and, not so unexpectedly, he chose Snow's group. Fang lightly chuckled and nudged Lightning in the side with her elbow. Lightning looked down and glowered at the point of contact. Fang ignored the expression. "In over his head, that one is," she said in a low voice, nodding in the direction of Hope and Vanille.

"Now that you have your tapes, you are now free to roam about the Vestige!" Mr. Palmer announced, with outstretched arms. "I will be walking around keeping tabs on you. And just to make sure that no one gets sheisted in the work, the security guards and myself will be making sure that everyone stays with their partner and that no one leaves the Vestige until three, understood? Now get to work!"

All the groups parted and went their separate ways. The first two rooms immediately connected to the main lobby were crowded with students. Sensing Lightning's annoyance at having to wait and push through mobs of students in order to see some of the displays, Fang nudged her once again (earning the same result as before) and led the way through the Vestige to one of the back rooms that most of the students hadn't wandered off to yet.

For the most part, the pair walked around the Vestige in silence. Once in awhile, Fang would make snorting or clucking noises at things that she found comical. For instance, they happened upon one part of the exhibit that displayed the 'Golden Age' of Cocoon tech. Fang immediately read the sign and grinned, making a soft chortling sound. "More like the 'golden spoon' age," she muttered in a low voice.

Lightning thought she would be more offended, but she found herself soon making some of the same noises in unison with Fang whenever they read or listened to some part of the exhibit that seemed to overly uplift the work of the Cocoonians. Lightning even had to admit that even the silences between the two weren't that bad. Although they weren't actually talking, which Light seemed more comfortable with, they communicated with each other the entire time.

Fang stepped up to a rusted piece of equipment and rested her hands on her hips, staring the thing down. It was a metal box with an aesthetic hand sticking out of it. She looked over her shoulder to Lightning, slightly quirking her eyebrow. _Whatta ya make of it?_

Lightning stepped up closer to the rusted cube. Her brow slightly furrowed in concentration and her lips puckered to the side as if she were biting the inside of her cheek. _I don't know. What does it do?_

Fang looked down at the tag pasted to the box's podium. HELPING HAND. She gave Lightning a long, judgmental look. _Your lazy asses made a box with a hand just so you could hold a burger, fries, and your drink at the same time?_

The lines in Lightning's forehead creased a bit more and her brow deepened. Her eyes narrowed on Fang. _It's probably the stepping-stone for something bigger, like a full-bodied robot._

Both of Fang's eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened. She looked both ways then landed her sights back on Lightning. _I don't see any bloody full-bodied robots._ Suddenly her eyes narrowed as well. Her lips lifted into a mischievous smirk as her eyes slowly roved back to the hand. _Unless…._

Lightning's eyes grew wide with an expression of incredulity. _NO._

Fang's smirk had now transformed into a knowing grin. She tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms. _That's probably why they could never get around to building a whole damn robot. _She waggled her eyebrows suggestively and softly started thrusting her hips back and forth in the direction of the hand. _Too busy poppin' off luckies, I bet._

Lightning sighed and rolled her eyes, walking to the next piece of laid out tech. Fang followed her with a goofy smile. They went on like this for an hour until they reached the 'Technology Has Many Faces' room.

Fang looked around the room apprehensively. This had to be the most unsettling room she had been in thus far. It was filled with helmets, visors, glasses, and masks. The helmets, which were the first pieces splayed out in the room, resembled some of the current day helmets of PSICOM. Fang shot them a quick, contemptuous glare and walked past them without giving them any more thought. Lightning quietly followed, only glancing back at the helmets once in slight confusion. Certainly Fang had some silent quip about PSICOM that she had been dying to get out?

Three masks were lined up next to each other near the back of the room. The two outside masks were tilted in opposite directions while the middle was standing straight up. Lightning scanned over the tags in front of them. COSMETIC MASKS. They were made to wear in order to moisturize skin, clear acne, or apply make-up. Fang slowly sauntered behind the first mask, her hips softly swaying as they usually did when she walked. She crouched down and tilted her head so that she was staring at Lightning through the two eyeholes. Lightning responded with an inquisitive hike of her eyebrow.

"So why don't I ever see you around?" Fang's voice finally broke the silence that the two had been carrying for a while now. It was kind of weird, Lightning thought to herself, as she stared into the green eyes that filled the mask. They had barely spoken to each other, but I felt as if they were simply continuing an old conversation.

"We have a class together," Lightning stated matter-of-factly, although she did not even notice that Fang had been in her class until recently.

"Outside of class, I never see you around." Fang crept sideways, now looking at Lightning through the eyes of the straightened, middle mask. "Why's that?"

"I dunno," Lightning replied, removing the tape player's headphones from around her neck. "I guess we aren't into the same things."

"What are you into?"

Lightning took slow steps past the masks, studying them as she went along. Fang moved along with her, tilting her head and staring at her through the last mask. After the short silence, she figured Lightning just wouldn't answer, so she continued. "I'm on the track and field team. Might be why we don't run into each other much after school. I'm always at practice."

Track and field. It was something Lightning was somewhat familiar with. For a brief time, she had once dated a track runner. It didn't take long for her to realize that she liked the workouts more than she actually liked the boy. "What events do you run?"

Fang's eyes lit up from behind the mask. Lightning couldn't tell for certain, but she was sure that the Pulsian was smiling. "I don't actually run in any events. I'm more of a field person, ya know. My specialty's the javelin. I pole vault and do the jumps too."

"Hmm." The image of Fang laid out across the car that morning earlier this week played across her mind. She had such long legs… "You just look like someone who'd be able to do well in the races."

"I would," Fang replied. "But we have enough good runners on the team to place favorably. Coach says they need me more for field."

"So you must be good."

"I'm the best."

Lightning let out an audible huff of disbelief. "You're not exactly the face of the track team."

With that, Fang slowly stood from behind the mask. Her eyes had noticeably lost some of that excitement from earlier but a distant smile still lingered on her lips. Lightning didn't know what it was she had said, but she felt herself regretting it. "School's not exactly ready for me to be the face of the track team," she said, walking over and gently taking the tape player out of Lightning's hands. "But for all it's worth, I do enjoy the field events much more." She gave Lightning a somewhat friendly smirk and placed the headphones over her ears.

Lightning then knew her mistake immediately. She wanted to do something to lighten the mood but nothing came to mind. Fang slowly traversed the room, listening to what the tape had to say about some of the masks and visors. After a moment, she stopped and looked toward a clock on the wall. She removed the headphones and walked back towards Lightning, handing her the tape. "Well. I think I've had enough of all this for today."

Lightning glanced at her own watch. "What do you mean? We still have ninety minutes before we can leave. The security guard won't let anyone out without ratting to Mr. Palmer."

Fang grinned. "Never said I was leaving the museum, love."

Lightning's brow wrinkled in confusion. "…then what are you talking about."

"Well…" Fang took slow, long strides forward, swinging her legs around as she moved to make it appear as if she was swerving, "I want to check out a different exhibit. One that's… not so public."

Lightning's eyes narrowed on the taller girl. "I'm not following…"

Fang stopped swaggering around the room and audibly sighed. "Did you know," she began, swinging on her heel to face Lightning, a finger pointed in the air, "that the Vestige stores a lot of Gran Pulsian artifacts, stolen from Gran Pulse, mind you, but does nothing with 'em? Just keeps 'em locked up in a room, left alone to be unappreciated."

"So?" Lightning asked bluntly. She folded her arms across her chest and continued to set a fixed stare on Fang through narrowed, crystal blue eyes.

"Well, I've already spent the first half of this trip learnin' all about Cocoon's technology. I wanna see technology from my own people. It's only fair, don't ya think?"

Lightning put her head down and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If it's locked up in some room, how are you going to see it? How do you even know it exists? I've never heard of the Vestige having a Pulse room."

"A GRAN Pulse room, thank you very much. And ya probably didn't hear about it because ya weren't listening for it," Fang smiled smugly, walking past the pink-haired girl. "Wanna check it out?"

"No!" Lightning spoke so quickly it surprised herself. Fang raised both eyebrows touchily and turned to head out the door.

"Wait!" Lightning called after her. "You can't just leave me here. You're going to get me in trouble! AGAIN."

Fang shrugged indifferently. "Then come with me."

Lightning looked at the ceiling in disbelief before leveling her view back to Fang. "What about the booklets? If I don't finish filling this out, I'm going to be stuck in Saturday detention for a month."

"Hmm." In an instant Fang was standing right back in front of Lightning, paging through her booklet. "I can answer all these questions." She glanced up at Lightning and grinned a little on seeing the look of skepticism on the girl's face. "It's part of the Gran Pulse Charter curriculum. They make sure we know the history and 'glorious feats' of Cocoon better than the damn Primarch himself."

Lightning turned away, an evident scowl plastered across her face. She had a feeling she would regret this. "Okay," she relented, glaring back into Fang's eyes. "But we better not get caught."

Fang glowed.


	3. Chapter 3

"You would think there'd be more security around this place," Lightning breathed, peering warily around a corner.

Standing a few feet in front of her, Fang leaned against a solid black door with her ear and palms pressed against its surface. "I'm sure this one's the right door," she said confidently after a moment, taking a step away from it.

"You said that two doors ago," Lightning hissed, not even trying to tone down the evident annoyance in her voice. Just as she suspected, she had regretted her decision almost immediately after agreeing to accompany Fang on this mission to find some 'secret' Gran Pulsian room. There were actually very few things at the moment that seemed more attractive than ratting the other girl out to Mr. Palmer right about now. If nothing else, it would be decent payback for getting her into enough trouble to get stuck on this Etro-forsaken field trip in the first place. "And what's with all the knocking? What'll you do if someone answers? Offer to sell them cookies?"

Before Fang could respond, the door indeed swung open. "Fang!" There was a flash of orange and before Lightning could actually register what had happened, she noticed the redheaded girl from the lobby clinging to her partner.

"Van," Fang said warmly, rubbing the girl's back as she returned the hug. "No problems, eh?"

"Nope," the redhead answered brightly. She then turned to Lightning and gave her a pleasant smile. "You brought people, too?"

"Yeah, thought it'd be fun," Fang said congenially, looking over to Lightning for a quick moment. "And don't let the long, soul-piercing looks of disdain fool ya. That's her happy face."

Lightning's expression remained unamused. "Can we get inside before we get caught, please?"

"Well, look who's excited now," Fang teased, opening her arm forward to signal Lightning to enter first. Lightning marched past without paying her or Vanille much mind.

When first entering, the room simply came off as a huge, cluttered, dark space. However, after only taking her first couple of steps further, Lightning could tell that it was actually much more. There was a special form of lighting that was set up on the walls and ceiling that emitted a dim, golden glow over the areas of the room where it sensed warms bodies. With this type of lighting, it was hard to see anything from outside, which may have been the reason they were used in the first place, but now that Lightning had taken her first few steps in the room, she was able to take in her new setting.

The first thing that Lightning noticed was that there was a stark contrast between the style of this room and the rest of the Vestige. The walls looked like they were made of big blocks of metamorphic stone, each block's color and pattern swirling in a different way from the rest but still coming together in harmony with each other. The ceiling was raised and had a domed, upward arch that was painted to look like a clouded night sky. When looking around, the teen had to pause to catch her breath. It all reminded her of pictures she had seen of old temples built for Etro.

The room's floor was packed with foreign and exotic looking sculptures, artifacts, and other structures. In the middle of the room, not more than a few meters away from her, stood the frames of a familiar odd couple. Hope and Snow.

Hope turned around and was the first to see Lightning. "Light!" His face absolutely lit up. "Come check some of this stuff out! It's amazing."

Lightning's line of vision instantly flew to Snow. "You brought a kid with you when breaking and entering?" she accused.

"Hey!" Snow's hands flew up in the air defensively. "He didn't want to leave Vanille and neither did I. How would it look if I didn't aid and abet one of Serah's best friends?"

Lightning glowered.

"It was joke. Sheesh…" Snow rested a reassuring hand on Hope's shoulder.

"So you must be Lightning." The chipper redhead, Vanille, appeared next to Lightning out of nowhere. Lightning eyed her skeptically. She was a bit shorter than herself, with pale green eyes that damn near sparkled with mirth. She wore a light orange halter-top and short blue skirt with furs pinned to it. Most importantly, she stood unnervingly close to Lightning. In response, the pinkette took a small sidestep away. "Well, hello! I'm Vanille! I could tell right off the bat that you were Serah's sister. Y'all look just alike! So pink hair must be a dominant trait in-"

"Whoa, whoa, Vanille," Fang grabbed the girl by the shoulders and gently tugged her to her side. "Don't pounce on the girl, yeah? Sorry 'bout that, Lighters. She gets that way sometimes when she meets new people. Easily excited." Fang gave her a gentle squeeze that Vanille hugged into before being released.

"Your best friend, right?" Lightning asked. Her eyes followed Vanille curiously as she walked, or more like bounced, towards Snow and Hope.

"In this world and the one below," Fang confirmed. Her eyes held a sense of pride as she also watched Vanille bound forward to the two boys. "But enough introductions. I know you. You know them. They know her. We're associated! Let's check out the goods."

"Whoop! Whoop!" Snow cheered, raising a fist in the air.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Why is everyone so excited to be part of a felony?" Everyone ignored the pinkette, but Lightning knew there was something in the air that even she couldn't deny. The excitement in the room was contagious and with each step that she took further into it, it felt as if a bit more of the doubt and regret that she had for coming seeped from her feet and into the floor.

"This way!" Hope bounded off behind a huge boulder with weird carvings engraved in them. "I found some cool looking paintings that you guys might want to take a look at."

The rest of the group moved to follow him, Snow and Vanille leading the way with Fang and Lightning lagging behind.

Lightning couldn't help but try to take in as much of her surroundings as she could. It was all so beautiful, in some dark, alien, and mysterious way. What intrigued her the most were the etchings that marked most of the items. As they slowly weaved through the room, Lightning paused at a metal sphere that rested in an old cart. The sphere was a tainted, dullish silver color. It had lines that ran around it, similar to that of a basketball, with many of the fanciful etchings carved into it. She reached out and tenderly grazed one of the etchings with her fingertips.

"Gran Pulsian inscriptions." Fang stood next to her, looking at the sphere with staid eyes. Lightning couldn't really explain it, but Fang's whole demeanor had changed not too long after they had entered the room. Her easygoing and taunting disposition had immensely sobered up, only returning when someone asked her a question or if she felt that she was being watched. Lightning tried not to give her too much obvious attention, but there was too distinct a difference from the girl's behavior in the more boring part of the Vestige and the behavior of everyone else in the room for the pink-haired girl to not notice. Hope jumped from object to object like a kid in a candy store. Snow pretty much strolled around the room with a lazy smile, labeling everything as 'cool'. Vanille walked around wide-eyed and mesmerized by everything around her. She had pulled out a pen and pad, Etro knows from where, and started making notes and drawing quick sketches of a few of the things they saw. Fang… Fang just moved slowly behind everyone else with a serious look on her face, stopping at some points to critically examine some of the artifacts before silently moving on.

"What do they say?" Lightning asked softly, her eyes now studying the stoic face of the girl beside her.

Fang tilted her head, still focused on the sphere with a faraway look on her face. She reached out and traced the words on the ball, her fingertips lightly brushing against Lightning's in the process. "This one…" Fang said, voice lowered to match Lightning's, "says 'Open'."

Her eyes drifted up to meet Light's. She faintly smiled. "I know. Not as impressive as it looks to the illiterate eye. I'm guessing this thing must've been a keep safe of some sort."

"Yeah…" Lightning simply nodded in agreement. She looked back down to the sphere. "Still, it looks like a beautiful language."

Fang's smile lingered. "It is. Don't know what good it'd do ya, but if you don't tell anyone, maybe I could teach some of it to ya? If you'd like, that is."

"Heh, just sounds like another way for you to get me in trouble." As much as she even disliked her subconscious using the word, she could feel a smiletening forming across her face. Her eyes flitted up again to meet Fang's. Fang's smile widened a bit.

"Fang! Fang!"

And just like that, Fang was gone. Lightning spun around, catching a glimpse of the Pulsian rounding the corner, following the voice of Vanille. She quickly followed suit as well.

"Van?" Fang trotted then stilled to a halt next to the younger girl. She placed her hands on her hips and bent over to get a closer look at the cubed piece of machinery that had gathered Vanille's attention. "Well, whadda'ya got here?"

Lightning slowed and stood between Snow and Hope, who stood across from the two girls. "What's going on?"

"Not sure," Snow replied, stuffing his hands in his trench coat pockets. "But it's got Vanille all excited."

"Fang, don't you remember? Back home? I used to have something just like this!"

"How could I forget the little bugger?" Fang wrinkled her nose at the gizmo that Vanille was now poking and prodding. "It was a major pain in the ass. What was the name of that thing again? Bhakti?"

"Yep! I wonder…" Vanille started making low humming sounds while she continued to poke. "Aha!"

The cube buzzed, not sounding too different from the humming sounds Vanille had just been making. Two panels at the top of the cube rose, allowing two telescope shaped eyes to emerge. The body of the cube also lifted, revealing four wiry, metal legs. A couple of lights that littered across the small machine's body flickered on and off. "Aww… Poor guy must be low on power," Vanille cooed. "Might as well shut 'im back down."

She pushed a button at the top of the cube. That action was immediately followed by a SNAP and a blinding flash of light. "Ahhh!" Fang gasped, rubbing her eyes. She muttered something that most people in the room registered as unintelligible while the small machine made a thrumming sound then a click before totally shutting off.

"Sorry," Vanille apologized, pushing the panels on top of the machine down again.

"It's nothin'," Fang grumbled, standing up. She reached down to help Vanille up as well. "Damned thing's just as bad as Bhakti was."

Snow stepped away from the trio that the three Cocoonians had formed and moseyed down another aisle of piled up artifacts. "So Fang…" He stopped to study a rough sculpture of a naked woman. He reached an open palm forward to cup a breast, but hesitated. He glanced over his shoulder at Lightning. She was standing with her arms folded and eyes deadlocked on him, with a single arched eyebrow, waiting for his next move. He grumbled something under his breath and retracted his hand. "We've seen one of Vanille's old toys. Gonna find any of yours?"

"Oh, Snow, my dear," Fang lightly chuckled. She sauntered over to the oversized boy, making sure to sway her hips more suggestively than usual. "If ya wanted to see one my toys, all you had to do was ask." She winked at him and continued walking forward.

Snow gave a low whistle and grinned, but once again made the mistake of looking back at Lightning, who was giving him a stank eye comparable to none he had ever seen before. "I mean, uh, shit…" he fumbled, quickly turning his attention to the next closest person. "Vanille!"

Vanille perked up, bright eyes settling on Snow expectantly. "Hmm?"

"For someone so handy at picking locks, why did you guys wait for a school function to get in here? This place is awesome!"

"Oh." Vanille gave Snow a sweet smile, genuinely touched by the compliment praising her skills of delinquency. "Well, uh… How do I actually go about saying it?" She looked up toward the ceiling and tapped a finger to her chin.

"We're technically not allowed to enter the Vestige," Fang cut in. Vanille shot Fang a reprimanding look to scold her and Fang's shoulders shot up nearly to her ears. "What? Might as well be truthful with 'um!"

"The Vestige is open to the general public. Why can't you visit?" Hope asked innocently, looking away from some electronic, wheeled contraption.

"Probably broke something."

"Hardy, har, har, Lightyear."

"Fang, play nice. Well actually, Hope, the Vestige is only open to citizens of Cocoon. With us being pureblooded Gran Pulsians, we aren't allowed to register for citizenship. It's not a rule that many people know about… Me, Fang, and the security guards from our first trip here only found out when they scanned our identification chips and the screens turned red."

"I'm sure they're not used to seeing that many Pulsians asking for admission," Lightning mused.

"Gran Pulsians." Fang said it this time with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "And Cocoon's actual history is on display, but 'Coonians' don't actually rush the doors either, now do they?"

Lightning scowled in Fang's direction, her brows ruffled. Fang had a fixed, angry stare set on her as well, her fists clenched and body tense. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Snow jumped between them. "Let's all just take it down a notch. We're all partners in crime here, right? So your ID chips didn't need to get scanned this time?"

"Nope," Vanille continued as if there were no interruption. "Mr. Palmer used a classroom clearance. Because Fang and I are a special case, there was never really a rule put in place before that needed the Vestige to check the individual ID chips in a classroom clearance. And since Mr. Palmer doesn't know the rule, he didn't know to exclude us."

Lightning released a slow breath. Even Vanille's overly bubbly voice had sounded gloomy disclosing that last fact. She stole a long, sideways look towards Fang. _I didn't mean that to come out the way it did._

Fang's tense shoulders relaxed a bit and she gave a little shrug, slightly pursing her lips to one side. _Meh. I may have overreacted._

Lightning shrugged as well and unexplainably felt a little better on seeing Fang's body once again loosen up and continue on as if nothing had happened.

"Vanille." Hope stood, looking up at a huge stretch of canvas that was spread out across one wall. It was covered in the exotic Pulsian markings with tiny colored illustrations stuck in between the words here and there. "Can you read this?"

Vanille skipped next to the boy, and he visibly blushed. She quickly scanned over the canvas, a pensive look on her face, before smiling and nodding. "It has some complicated words in there, but I get the gist of it."

Vanille cleared her throat dramatically before starting. "Back in the days of the War of Transgression, it says that the Gran Pulse Fal'Cie would recruit humans to be their special warriors in the fight against the Cocoon Fal'Cie and their subjects. These esteemed warriors were called l'cie. The Fal'Cie would gift these warriors with special powers in order for them to complete their focus."

"A focus is like a mission that they'd have to do for a Fal'Cie. Basically the whole reason they'd become l'cie," Fang interrupted. "It's not really written in there, but we know it well enough. It's like a regular bedtime story back at the reservation."

"Well anyway, yes. The Fal'Cie would gift these warriors with special powers in order for them to complete their focus, which would be given to them in a vision at the exact time that the l'cie was bestowed these powers. Once a l'cie was given a focus, he could not escape it. As time progressed without the focus being fulfilled, the l'cie would start to get more frequent and vivid images of the focus that must be completed. This would go on until the l'cie lost his mind and became a walking monster among men. Once a focus is fulfilled, the Fal'Cie would then send the l'cie into a deep crystal slumber until he is needed again."

The teenagers stood silently, letting the story sink in. Snow rested his forearm on Fang's shoulder to lean on the girl. "So," he whispered, "These are the types of bedtime stories they tell you guys?"

"Heh. If ya think that's twisted, you should hear the one about Ragnarok."

"Guys…" Lightning took a step forward, looking past the group to point to the back wall. "What's that?"

Everyone turned around to face the pointed direction. "Whoa," Snow mouthed. The sentiment was shared amongst all the others in the group. Their feet led them to walk closer to the subject; all the other artifacts in the room cleared away the closer they got to it.

Lightning's stomach clenched. Her gut was telling her something wasn't right, but she cautiously continued to walk forward anyway. She looked around at her partners in crime, wondering if they all had the same feeling. As if to show that they did, all of their faces were scrunched in suspicion, all of their steps slow and dubious.

The big structure ahead of them was nothing special. It didn't really look like anything special. It had a fat, dome-shaped base with what looked to be metallic looking wires, tubes, and beams sprouting from it. The floor surrounding the thing looked different too. It was covered in circular patterns that visibly housed gears and cogs. "What'dya reckon this is?" Fang looked over to Vanille.

"Hmmm." Vanille rubbed her chin, halting her steps quite a few feet away from the base. "I… I don't know." With that she quickly pulled out her pad and started sketching in it.

Lightning continued to eye the structure unsurely. She innately took a step back. Hope, who was standing a few steps behind her, followed suit. "W-what time is it? Maybe we should head back before we get caught."

Fang looked up from Vanille's sketching to look back on the object. She continued to stare at it for a long moment. She slowly shook her head. Her eyes were glued to the structure. She took another step towards it. "Uh, Fang," Snow reached for her wrist, "Maybe we should give it some space."

"Uh, uh," Fang yanked her wrist away, never breaking eye contact with the thing. She took another step forward.

"Fang…" Vanille paused her sketching to look up at her best friend with a worried expression. "Fang?"

By now Fang had reached the base. Everyone else held their breath as she reached out a tentative hand and slowly placed her fingertips against the side of the dome before flattening her palm against it. She released a loud, audible breath. One that must've been so deep that even everyone who stood behind her could see her body hike up then relax from the action. She looked over her shoulder at her comrades, a look of heavy relief and slight confusion on her face. "Well… don't know what that was about. But yea, the little guy is right. We stay her any longer, and they might notice we've gone missing."

Vanille nodded her head shakily. Lighting felt her shoulders loosen and gave a single nod of agreement as well. Fang fully turned and let her hand slide off the structure in order to make her way back to the group. The others turned back as well to head for the door.

TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK!

"Huh?" Fang paused to listen to the silent clicking sounds that surrounded her.

Lightning looked over her shoulder curiously as well.

WHOOSH!

A sudden burst of light flashed up from the floor, the gears below whirling crazily. "What the…" Lightning stared down at the floor incredulously. She was too dazed in the moment to even contemplate what her next move should be or how she should probably be escaping.

"AHH!" Vanille gasped.

Lightning's head shot up. A crack of light split through the center of the domed base and slowly spread open, nearly blinding the teens. She squinted and placed her to arms in front of her face in an 'X' shape in order to block out the light. Her clothes swept backwards against her body as an unexpected gust of wind blew against her, threatening her balance. "What did you do?!" she shouted as loud as she could, barely being able to hear her own voice over the wind gushing through her ears.

"I don't know!" She could just about make out Fang's exclaimed reply.

"Turn it off!" Snow yelled from somewhere behind Lightning.

"If ya think I knew how, d'ya think I'd be over here playin- HOOOO-LEEEEE SHIT!"

Two huge spinning appendages, somewhat resembling the top of a giant, extremely pissed off screwdriver, surfaced from inside the light of the blinding dome. From behind the two scary appendages, metallic looking legs reached out, pulling a gigantic, weird mechanical-looking body behind it. "F-F-Fal… FUCK! FUCK! RUN!"

Lightning stared wide-eyed at the being that had emerged from the stationary structure. She hadn't even noticed that she had stopped breathing until she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and drag her away in the opposite direction. She let out a choked breath and frantically looked around as she continued to be pushed forward. Snow had hoisted Hope under his arm and was sprinting for the door. Beside her, Fang was dragging her around the waist with one arm and pulling Vanille along by the wrist with her other hand.

Lightning spun around to also make a break for it when she felt the arm that had been so secure around her waist not a second before being savagely ripped backwards. She whipped her head around to see Fang, suspended in the air and being pulled back to the mechanical monster by a whip of light. "FANG!" She couldn't hear herself shout the name, but she knew she had done it.

Fang was thrashing, hopelessly trying to escape the blinding light lasso. Her wild eyes landed on Lightning. She was vehemently shouting at her. Lightning couldn't hear a word of it, but knew exactly what she was saying.

Get Vanille.

Lightning dashed back towards the monster. The redhead had run back, trying to save her friend. That was all for naught now. In a second, Lightning had latched onto the girls elbow and was yanking her back in the opposite direction. She could feel the girl's arm tensing and straining, trying to pull in the opposite direction. She knew she was calling her best friend's name. She was fighting hard to go back, but Lightning's grip wouldn't let up. It was then that she felt the rest of Vanille's arm violently slip through her grasp, right before she felt a tight vice-like grip tighten around her own waist. The ground leapt from under her, and her stomach jumped as she twirled through the air. She caught glimpses of orange, khaki, and silver surrounded by lines of white flailing along in the air with her.

She reached down to grasp the binding light around her, but the moment her skin made contact she felt an electric jolt run through her.

Everything went black.

Quick images flickered and dissipated in front of her eyes. No. Behind her eyes. No. In her head.

Feral eyes staring at her. A loud piercing scream. She couldn't cover her ears. Gun fire. A bolt of electricity blasting through concrete. Deafening explosion. Icicles flying. No, a blizzard. Gunshots. More loud explosions. A deafening roar. A beast with a wild, fiery mane and a pincer-like tail.

Darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

Something cold and hard pressed against her cheek. Better yet, something cold and hard pressed against her entire body. Her aching body, by the way. In the distance she could make out muffled noises. There was a light pressure on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to blurred images. She blinked a few times, but that did not help clear her vision any. The muffled sounds were getting louder. She tried to lift herself up, but gravity proved to be too strong an opponent. She huffed, blinking again. More defined shapes started to take form before her eyes, and the jumbled sounds started to sound more like words.

"wbfuoeehhhh ohhh uhh errr!"

The noises had a strange rhythm to them, loud as they were. Lightning shook her head and attempted to raise her body up again. The pressure from before moved from her shoulder and gripped her elbow. Her vision still took its time to clear, but the voices were becoming defined much more quickly.

"Lehhhrrr gohhhh! Uhrrrr hurtinggg her!"

Fang. It was Fang's voice. Lightning felt a sudden jolt run up her spine as her memories surged back. They were in the Vestige. In some forbidden back room. They were… attacked?

"Miss? Miss? Can you hear me?" This was a new voice, much clearer than the others she had heard. A big blur now filled her vision. "Miss, are you alright?" Lightning slowly nodded, not knowing why but feeling that it was the right thing to do.

The louder voices from further away persisted. _"You are resisting arrest. We will be obligated to use brute force if you do not comply."_

_"Comply?! She's just a kid! Get her out of those handcuffs! You're hurting her!"_

Lightning's vision suddenly zeroed in. She pushed herself up from the ground as quickly as she could without dizzying herself. Handcuffs? She looked down at her hands, which were unrestrained and planted on the floor to help her keep her balance. Her stomach was queasy, like she was about to be sick. Her legs felt somewhat like jelly, but she could slowly feel the strength returning to them. "Take it easy, miss." She turned her head. The voice beside her belonged to a Guardian Corps officer, whose hand was now resting gently on her back.

Not even five feet away from her was Hope, splayed out across the floor, rubbing his head. A different officer was leaning over him and appeared to be asking him questions.

"Hope!" she coughed. Her throat was dry and her voice raspy.

Hope raised his head and turned it in her direction. He looked dazed. "Light? What... Where…"

Lightning wanted to respond to him, but she couldn't concentrate with all the racket going on in the background. She lifted herself further so that she was sitting back on her legs. Why was the room so loud?

"Miss." A gloved hand lightly gripped her shoulder. "Miss, are you able to provide your name along with your reason for visiting the Vestige today?"

"I… I, um…"

_"Fang, I'll be alright! Stop—Ahh!"_

_"VANILLE!"_

Lightning moved her head back to peek behind the security officer kneeling before her. "…Fang?"

Fang was kneeling on her hands and knees, surrounded by four Guardian Corp officers. Her wrists were cuffed in front of her and she had a pained look in her eyes. "Vanille!" She made a jump to stand but was quickly pushed down and held to the ground by one of the officer's boots.

"Oomph!"

Lightning's eyes widened. "Wait. What are—"

The officer kneeling beside Lightning squeezed her shoulder a bit tighter. "Don't worry, miss. We've got the situation under control."

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Hope slowly raise himself to sit upright. "Wh-what's going on?" His eyes darted around the room. "V-Vanille?"

Lightning directed her head to follow Hope's line of vision. Vanille was being forcibly dragged away by two big men, each with a heavy grip on her upper arms. Her hands had been bound behind her back. "What's the meaning of all of this?" Lightning didn't even realize that she had stood up.

"Don't worry. We're neutralizing the threat as we speak."

Lightning instinctively glanced towards the back wall. The weird structure that had been there before… It was gone. Then they must be talking about… "Ugh, no. Wait, there's been a big misunderstanding. Fang isn't a threat. She's just an idiot. Fang, will you calm down so these people can do their jobs?"

Lightning would have never predicted what had happened next. It all happened so fast. The officer holding Fang down with his boot was suddenly flung backwards, offending foot first, as Fang forcefully sprang to her feet.

_"Somebody contain h-augh!"_

The young woman was now in a full out frenzy with the group of surrounding officers. One officer lunged at her. She quickly ducked down and in one simple motion flipped him over. Another officer reached for her arm. She was able to grab his wrist first with her handcuffed hands, and twist him around, flinging him into different officer. More officers went in for the kill, some armed with debilitation whips.

Lightning took a deliberate step towards the fighting Pulsian, but was halted by a firm hand placed to her chest. She looked up. The officer was now standing next to her, a stern look plastered to his face. "Miss, I'm going to need you to also comply with the rules and stay back."

Lightning opened her mouth to question, but her head was snapped back in the direction of her partner when she heard a loud yelp.

"Fang!"

Using their whips, the officers had wrangled the teen to the floor. One whip was tightly wound around the girl's neck, while two more each gripped a leg. Fang writhed on the floor, pulling at the whip that was wound so tightly around her neck. As she struggled, she gasped and choked for air. "Please!" Vanille shouted, vainly fighting against the men that had forced her back. "Don't hurt her!"

"Is this really necessary?" Lightning quickly turned back to the officer. "She's a minor!"

"She's illegally trespassing on two different accounts, taken part in kidnapping, resisting arrest, attacking officers, and some of the inventory in this room has gone missing. She may even be plotting treason. We are using as much force as we need to. Now please, stand down."

Lightning stared at the officer in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

_"How is she so strong?"_

_"I don't know, but can you do something fast? I don't think we can hold her down much longer!"_

_"This'll slow her down…" _

A loud THWACK filled the room. Lightning felt her blood run cold.

"FAAAANNNNGGGG!" Vanille was now shrieking.

Lightning looked back over to the group of officers who were now tightly huddled around Fang. One held a large gun high above his head in the air. From behind them, she could still see Fang's lower body twisting, and pulling at her constraints. The movements were not as aggressive as before, but still had a certain amount of fervor.

"Auugh!" THWACK! The officer struck the butt of the gun down once again to what looked to be Fang's head region. Fang's body immediately stilled. Lightning couldn't move. She could barely think. Her body was frozen in shock. In the background she could faintly register Vanille's sobs.

"HEYYYY!" a deep voice bellowed. Out of nowhere, as if he had been shot out of a cannon, Snow bolted forward with his shoulder hunched. He rammed straight into the group of officers, knocking each of them down like they were bowling pins. Lightning clenched her teeth and pushed past the officer nearest her.

A hand tightly gripped her wrist to pull her back but she resisted.

ZZZZZZZZZ

Her body broke into a sharp and painful fit of shakes. A tingling sensation surged upwards, from her hand to her shoulder, spreading through her chest before travelling back to her shoulder and out through her hand again.

ZZZTTTTTTT!

Lightning released a shaky breath, a cool feeling washing over her, and turned her head. The officer was laid out on the ground, unconscious. On the ground next to him was a busted up looking taser with stray sparks shooting from it. Lightning subconsciously rubbed the fingers of her hand that had been pointing backwards to the officer together. Something was off.

Lightning wouldn't get any more time to think about the strange occurrence, for she felt a sudden sting in her neck. She immediately pawed at the spot. Something small and cylindrical shaped was jutting out from her skin. Once again, the world started losing shape and her vision became blurry.

* * *

Lightning awoke with a major headache. She rubbed her temples and sat up groggily. A downcast looking Hope was sitting on the floor next to the bench where she appeared to be laid out.

"You're up." It was more of a statement than a question.

"I'm up," she reiterated in confirmation. She rolled her eyes around in her sockets to take in her new settings. A cell. Shit. She threw her legs over the bench and spotted Snow, slouching against the wall on the opposite side of the tiny room. His black skullcap was messily crammed onto his somewhat drooped head. His eyes were bloodshot red and it didn't look as if he fully comprehended where he was. Lightning looked back down to Hope. "Fang? And Vanille?"

Hope's eyes could've answered the question all by themselves, but he still shook his head to drive the point home. "Well…" Lightning's thoughts were running rampant and her insides twisting, "How are you feeling? After everything? Are you hurt?"

Hope just looked at her again with those dejected eyes. He glanced distrustfully at the guard seated at a desk directly across from the cell, then back to Lightning. "What happened in there…"

"Was disgusting," Lightning finished, her stern eyes falling to the floor. In her mind, she couldn't stop replaying the image of Fang's body going limp after that loud crack. Yes, she did think that her assigned partner was a moron, but she didn't think she deserved the treatment that she had gotten back there.

"No, Light." Lightning brought her attention back to her young neighbor. "Before that. When… you know. What… what happened?"

In the excitement of their arrest, Lightning had almost forgotten about the encounter with the mysterious being. The thing that so effortlessly flailed them all around the room like little rag dolls...

"Do… think… probed us?" Snow slurred from his hunched position against the wall. Well, maybe he did have some clue as to where he was.

"Light." This time Hope had only whispered her name. She looked back down at him as he scooted close to her. "Look." He slowly lifted up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a strange tattoo with curvy lines. "This was on my wrist when I came to."

Lightning stared wide-eyed at the mark. She didn't know why, but her hand instinctively rose and gripped her chest.

Her concentration was suddenly broken at the sound of a heavy door opening somewhere else in the room. "Colonel." The guard who had been seated outside of the cell stood abruptly and saluted.

"Shit…" Lightning breathed.

"At ease, soldier." A man dressed in a grayish-khaki suit stepped in front of the cell and peered in. His steely blue eyes locked with Lightning's crystal blue ones. He was a tall, full man. His face was creased with worry lines and somewhat more wrinkled than it should be for his age, but he was still considered to be more than attractive. He had neatly trimmed pink hair, a couple of shades darker and duller than Lightning's, that had streaks of white and silver on the side that seemed to bring more attention to his face... A face that was still staring sternly down at Lightning.

"Claire."

"Dad…"

Colonel Farron quietly sighed and turned back to the officer at the desk. "Been causing trouble, have they?"

The guard chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Teenagers will be teenagers. Good thing one of the arresting officers noticed the pink hair. He figured it couldn't be that common of a color and had them sent here instead of transferring them to PSICOM when he got her last name." He dug in his pocket and fished out a key. He walked to the side of the cell and pressed the key down on a reception pad. The cell wall immediately dissipated. "The big one might be a little dopey. He withstood a couple of tasers and tranqs. Cut some of his hair when we got him in here to send to the lab. Wanted to test him for drugs."

Farron grunted in understanding. "Snow," he said in a loud, commanding voice. Snow's head popped up, following the source of the noise. "Can you walk, son?"

Snow nodded his head vigorously and clambered to his feet, clumsily stumbling forward. Hope jumped up to walk beside him, wrapping both of his arms around Snow's waist to help steady him. The colonel looked back towards the guard at the desk. He lowered his voice a bit before asking, "So can we agree to have this little 'incident' stricken from the records?"

"Pshhh." The guard waved the question off as if it was the most foolish thing he had heard all day. "It wasn't even recorded in the first place. We've all done stupid things as kids. Hell, in my heyday I once got into a stash of transparent ooze that my brother had hidden under his bed. Woke up the next morning butt naked behind the display window of Creature Comforts, playing little spoon to a stuffed grizzly."

Farron eyed the guard derisively. "We've all had those days, haven't we…"

The guard smiled and nodded enthusiastically while Lightning slowly approached her father from behind. "Dad," she lightly touched her father's shoulder.

Farron turned his head to give her a cold stare. "Claire, whatever it is that you have to say, it can wait until we're home."

"But… No. It can't."

Lightning could see her father's shoulders tense. His eyes spoke volumes and she could see silent anger swimming in those steely blue pools that reminded her so much of her sister's. "And why's that?"

"Two other girls. We were with two other girls. They're minors, just like us, and they were handcuffed and beaten then carted away. I'm not even sure if they were read their rights. You… You've gotta do something to help them."

"The Pulse girls." Farron's voice dripped with contempt. "They're not my problem. They're not yours either."

"But they've been transferred to PSICOM. If you can get us out of—"

Lightning couldn't even finish her sentence before her father had stepped into her, pushing her back into the cell with a finger pointed in her face. "Do you know how many strings I've already had to pull to make sure that the three of you get out with your reputations unscathed?" The question was growled through gritted teeth. "Not only did those two girls break multiple laws, but they also put you in danger. That, I cannot forgive. Let the justice system handle it."

Lightning tried to steel herself when looking in her father's eyes, but it was hard to pull off when she couldn't stop her body from trembling. By now she had been pushed to back of the cell, her back against the wall. Her father eyed her down one last time and released a disappointed breath before turning on his heel to exit the cell. Lightning didn't know why she said what she did next. It was the last thing that she wanted to say to her dad in that moment, but it just flew out of her mouth. "I did it."

Farron paused and turned to look at his eldest once more. "What?"

"I did it." Lightning tried her best to stand straight despite the inside feeling that was telling her to find a corner and hide. "It was my idea to break into that room. I dragged everyone along with me, against their will. I most certainly attacked an arresting officer… and I touched a lot of things in the Vestige that had the 'Do Not Touch' sign tagged to them."

The guard sitting behind the desk gave a low whistle that quickly turned into a cough when Farron shot him an over-the-shoulder glare.

"Shouldn't you be writing this down?" Lightning's attention was now on the guard. "I'm confessing my crimes."

The guard jumped, somewhat startled by the bluntness of the young girl. His main duty was to watch the drunk-tank cell and he wasn't used to people actually confessing to or being responsible for less-than-obvious crimes. It was also a bit unsettling how much the young girl resembled the esteemed man, also standing in the office, who had become famous for quickly climbing through PSICOM's ranks. The guard uneasily pulled out a tape recorder from his desk drawer. "I, uh, wasn't ready to tape a confession."

"That's fine. I'll repeat it."

"Ok—"

"No, she won't," Farron snapped. "Put that damned thing away. Claire," Farron was on his daughter in an instant, tightly gripping her around the arm and lifting her off the ground so that she was nearly face-to-face with him.

"Dad, I know you have a lot of pull around here, but if I keep confessing to the wrong people… this could end up being quite the story. And I have at least four eye witnesses to back me up."

Farron gritted his teeth and his chest heaved with every breath. Lightning had never seen her father so angry before. "Aughh." He threw her arm back forcefully, causing her to stumble backwards and into the wall behind her. He strode out of the cell and stopped at the guard's desk. "Phone."

The officer handed over his communication device. He nervously glanced from one pink-headed family member to the other. Farron greeted whoever picked up the phone and started going through standard procedure conversation. He then turned, never breaking icy eye contact with his daughter the entire time. "…Yes, the two Oerban girls. … Release them to their parents immediately. … I want the cells cleaned early tomorrow morning. ... Yes, you can strike the record as well. … As you so please. … Affirmative."

Lightning slowly straightened and dusted herself off. Her father turned towards the door, not giving her a second glance as he led them out of the small station.

* * *

"The Yun clan takes pride in its scars. We like PSICOM's the best, because every one scar stands for five of y'all who got yer asses handed to 'em."

"Haha, oh yeah?" One of three guards who walked beside her laughed. "How much are you and your people going to love that one, sweetheart." He made a swiping motion with his finger across his un-helmeted head in reference to the huge gash that he knew to be on the girl's.

"Hmm. I'm pretty sure a lot. Cause that one stands for ten." She felt a hand roughly push her between her shoulder blades, causing her to stumble forward as she walked. The guards chuckled lightly, watching her try to regain her balance. It was harder than usual with the binds around her ankles, hands, and neck.

Once she did regain her bearings somewhat, she raised her head slightly to look around the hallway that she was being led down. She couldn't see that well from the crude bandages she had made from ripping the sleeves and midriff area of her shirt to wrap around the left side of her head, but even without the bandages she wouldn't be able to see from her left eye anyway. There was a constant, throbbing ache from her left temple, and making quick movements sometimes made her dizzy.

"Greeves, guess who I just got off the phone with?" A fourth soldier approached them from further down the hall. He stopped and turned his head in Fang's direction. Although she couldn't see his face through his helmet, she could imagine the type of look he was giving her. She bared her teeth at him and he made an amused noise. "So this is the wild one I've been hearing about… Where's she going?"

The un-helmeted guard shrugged. "Since she's so fond of going on field trips, we thought we'd take her on one. Phone call?"

"Oh. Yeah. It was Colonel Farron. Seems like this one's got some friends in high places, huh?"

Fang's head perked up on hearing the familiar surname.

"Oh, really?" The un-masked guard was continuing. "Who'da thunk it? So what did old Farron have to say?"

Fang squinted her eye at the new guard. She knew she wouldn't be able to get a good look at her 'escorts' as long as they wore their helmets, but she had already etched the face of unmasked one, with the wide nose, brown spot on his forehead, and dusty brown hair, into her memory.

"Let her and the other one go. First thing in the morning."

"Ohh… First thing in the morning?" Fang didn't even have to look back in the man's direction. She could practically hear him smiling. "Not tonight? Well, maybe not good enough friends in high places."

"Yep. 'Release them to their parents immediately… but make sure the cells are cleaned by tomorrow morning'," the new guard chuckled lightly.

"Nice. Did he have any other requests?"

"Just that we don't mark their records. I don't think he wants it to come back and haunt the other three involved. They sound like good kids."

"Makes sense. And it's not like we probably won't be seeing this one here again anyway." The unmasked guard yanked at the leash-like constraint that had been clamped around Fang's neck. The girl grimaced as her head was quickly jerked backwards. "No stipulations?"

The new guard shook his head. "Nothing on that end. Pretty much, have fun."

"Is that so? Well, goody. Then we don't have to cancel our field trip after all." Fang felt another hard shove to her back. It was their way of telling her to start walking again. She wobbled forward before settling back into step.

"Hey, Yun," one of the guards said after they had made a couple of turns and descended down a long stairwell. "What was that you were saying earlier about hunting prowess?"

Fang didn't answer but continued to walk forward, silently taking in her surroundings. They entered through a heavy door and into a dimmer lit hall that smelled strongly of wet fur and urine. The hall was lined with more cells, but these cells were much bigger than the one that Fang had been pulled out of earlier. Fang eyed the thick, grid-like bars warily. They stopped in front of one particular grid door. "This the one for the dogs, right?" one of the guards asked. He was answered by a confirmatory hum.

"Good," the unmasked guard said. "Yun, do you believe in fate?"

Fang peered through the gaps in the entrance, trying to make out any discernable shapes in the darkness with her good eye. From the behind the entry she could make out a mixture of panting, growling, and whimpering sounds.

All the while, the man continued talking. "Because I do. That's why I think it's fate that brought you here to us today. Not too long ago, I got a call saying that one of the lobos placed in this here hallway somehow escaped from its enclosure and is teasing the other animals. And almost immediately afterwards, I got another call saying that you were also causing a ruckus and teasing the other animals in your enclosure as well."

The man placed his hand on Fang's shoulder. "Now, if that wasn't fate all by itself, think of how ecstatic I was to hear that you are a 'mighty' Yun huntress. I mean, it's like Etro delivered you to this very place just for me, because now I'm going to need you to showcase these great skills of yours by hunting one of your Pulsian kinfolk in there."

"GRAN Pulsian," Fang snarled.

The guard sucked his teeth as one of the other guards cautiously unlocked the huge door. Fang felt all of her constraints loosen and fall simultaneously before she was shoved into the newly opened hallway. She stilled herself for a moment, hoping the throbbing in her head would settle after the quick movement.

"Here!" A smile spread across the guard's face. He reached back and grabbed a large, semi-thick stick that one of the other guards had grabbed from somewhere else in the room. "You might need this." He tossed the limb to Fang, who easily caught it with one hand.

She studied the stick in her hand, lightly tossing and turning it in order to get a feel for it. It didn't feel too dense and the ends were rotted and blunt. "This doesn't look too useful. Why don't you give me your gun instead?"

"Ha! You'll be lucky I don't give you the butt of it again by the end of the night," the guard laughed as the heavy grid door was clanged shut again.

Fang groused and held up the stick defensively as she crouched into a hunting position she had learned from some of her elders. From the dim lighting of the hall, she could make out the barred entrances of some of the enclosures. "Can ya at least turn on a light or somethin'?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at the men on the other side of the door.

"Turn on the lights? And take the fun out of the hunt for you? Now why would we do that?"

Fang let out a low, irritated growl and once again tried to focus on her surroundings. She could hear claws clicking on the floor as some of the animals paced and the low warning grumbles some of them bellowed. Fang's body tensed in anxious expectation. She didn't at all expect the creature that excitedly sprang forward from the darkness.

YIP! YIP! YIP!

"A puppy?"

A small lobo pup dashed forward, yipping and growling the whole way. Fang felt her cheeks grow hot in humiliation. Roaring laughter from behind filled her ears. It was soon accompanied by the howls of the bigger dogs in their cages. The puppy ran around Fang in circles, an immature instinct for how to stalk its prey. When it was satisfied, it lunged forward to snap at her ankles. With little effort, Fang yanked her foot away from the tiny jaws' reach and swung the stick around to give the pup a hard whack to its backside. The puppy yelped and skittered back down the dark hallway and away from its much bigger opponent, whimpering the entire time. "Really? Y'all are sooooooo funny." Fang put her hands on her hips and looked back towards the guards who were now hunched over in laughter.

"For all this, ya could've just let me—" ROARRRRRR!

Fang barely had time to turn her head back down the hall and roll out of the way before the body of a giant wolf leapt toward her. "Shit!" She cursed, sliding across the floor. Her head was pounding.

"How ya like our puppy?" A voice jeered from the outside.

Fang stared into the giant Lobo's eyes with her one good one. She wasn't sure if she was up for- The lobo once again flew at her. Fang lifted the stick in defense, but the damn thing snapped in two from the weight of the beast. Fang slid backwards, trying to avoid the powerful snaps of the fiend. The lobo ceased its forward onslaught and slowly paced around the girl in a much more tempered manner than the puppy had earlier. Fang gripped a broken piece of stick in each hand, rising to her feet and turning so that the lobo couldn't get behind her.

The fiend pounced inward again, furiously swiping in the air. Fang batted one of the giant paws away and jumped backwards to avoid the second. "AHHHHHHH!" An immediate pain shot through her right shoulder as deep claws pierced skin. She had gotten too close to the bars of one of the enclosures and a beast from inside had taken the chance to swipe at her.

Fang spun around, her feet carrying her to the middle of the wide hall to avoid any more guest attackers. The lobo was slowly stalking forward again. Fang lunged and attempted to stab the beast in the eye, but it was too quick. It snapped at her hand and she quickly pulled it back before she lost it. It only took a few more swipes and attempted blocks for the lobo to break the two sticks Fang had been holding, rendering them small and useless. She threw the scraps to the side, crouching and taking slow steps backwards. She could still hear the guards cheering and whistling. Once again the lobo pounced. Fang was nearly blinded by the pain in her head, but she knew she was on her back. She could feel the smoothed cement beneath her. And her hands… each hand was tightly grasped around something huge and furry. Fang tried to focus but all she could see was white. White fur. She was under the lobo, a beast that should've outweighed and out-powered her by at least two times, holding its gigantic paws away from her. How the… The whistling from the opposite end of the hall had stopped and was replaced by soft murmuring. The soldiers must've been wondering the same thing as Fang, while the lobo above her struggled fiercely to get its jaws close enough to snap into Fang's neck.

"Call him off!" Fang tried to shout, but her voice only came out as squeaky pants. If they didn't do something… If she didn't do something… She was going to die here. She was going to leave Vanille alone, in a crowded cell, only to deal with the repercussions by herself for the rest of her days. She'd probably be much more prone to getting picked up again. Fang's face grew hot and her body tensed. She couldn't let that happen. She hated the circumstance that she was in. She hated Cocoon. She hated PSICOM. She hated silver lobos. She hated Colonel Farron. She hated them all, and everything that they did to try and ruin her life. What if she had the power to ruin theirs? What if she could?

Her hands began to quake with anger, her teeth clenching down. The pain in her head felt as if it were beginning to dull and an unfamiliar hot spark surged through her, starting in her chest and flowing to her shoulders and down to her hands. Her hands that clutched the lobo's paws and were now glowing white.

Fang knew something was wrong. She knew this was not normal. She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not. That hot surge suddenly shot out of her hands and thrust the lobo backwards, sending it flying across the hall. The lobo crashed into heavy grid entrance at the other end of the hall and crumpled to the floor, not moving a bit. Fang stared at it wide eyed from her own place on the floor. She didn't hear any noise from the men, but the pain in her head had returned with a vengeance.

The guards' voices then returned.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I dunno. It was too dark and she was too far back. What'd she do?"

"Must've kicked it in the 'nads or something while we couldn't see."

"I thought it was a girl…"

"She had to have cheated somehow. Look at her."

Fang felt delirious. She slowly lay back down on the concrete. In her head, she just kept repeating, "I ruined it…"

* * *

Serah sat silently on her bed, knees hugging her chest. She had no idea what had happened, but not too long ago she heard the downstairs door open with a clang. She had grabbed the closest thing to a weapon that she could find, a glittery baton, and snatched her cell phone from off her desk, hiding behind her closet door.

"I have NEVER been so ashamed of you!" a familiar voice boomed from the lower floor. "What were you even thinking?!"

"Daddy…?" Serah mouthed, glancing at her watch for the time. Her father rarely came home so early in the day. It was more common for him to enter the house around the time that she and Lightning were preparing for bed and he was almost always gone again before they woke up.

"You didn't see the way they were treating them!" Claire's voice sounded strained, like she was pleading with the man.

"Like criminals? Who were attacking members of the force?"

"But Dad—"

"But nothing! Go to your room while I think of something to do with you. NOW!"

Serah crept out of her room and into the upstairs hallway, hoping to get a visual of the two. She had never heard her father sound so angry… She had actually never heard her sister and father arguing before. She froze upon hearing the rapid thumping of feet as Lightning appeared before her in the hall. She looked horrible. Her hair was mussed up and all over her head, and her eyes were red and watery. She looked to be on the verge of tears although not a single one slid down her cheek.

"Claire…" Serah spoke in barely a whisper, which earned her a long, hard look as Lightning passed.

"Not now, Serah." Lightning never slowed her tempo as she walked into her own room, shutting the door behind her.

Serah stood rooted to the spot, wondering what in the world was going on. Her father was the next to appear in the hallway. His brows were creased downward in an angry fashion and his chest and shoulders heaved with each fuming breath he took. He froze for a second to peer at his youngest child, who stood paralyzed in the middle of the hall. "Dad?"

"Serah, you should go to your room too." His voice was much softer than it had been downstairs, but there was still a firm resoluteness to it that made it clear to her that this was not a request.

"Oh-okay." Serah slowly nodded. She watched as the pink-haired soldier marched to his room on the opposite side of the upstairs hall and also closed the door with a resounding slam, leaving Serah by herself in the hallway.

That was over half an hour ago. Not too long afterwards, she heard the shower from her shared bathroom cut on. She slowly walked to the door, softly trying the handle. She had hoped to slip in and ask Lightning about what had happened while her guard was down, but the eldest Farron daughter had locked the door. She stole a peek at her phone. No new messages. After the chaos, she had texted Snow and then Vanille, wanting to talk with someone. She hoped it would help ease her nerves or take her mind off the thick tension that had flooded the house, but neither friend had texted back. So Serah continued to sit on her bed, knees lifted to her chest, feeling lost.

* * *

Lightning leaned forward against her forearms, which were resting against the tile wall of the shower. Her eyes were closed and her head pressed against one of her arms. She stood there, taking slow, deep breaths, and letting the hot water wash over her. She finally lifted her head back up, running a hand to push water and her soaking wet hair out of her face. Her other hand lightly grazed the new mark above her breast that looked nearly identical to the one on Hope's wrist.

* * *

**A/N: **Welllll, that escalated quickly. Sorry if it's a bit too over the top. It's been kind of a long/stressful week for me, so while I was writing this chapter I felt like someone just had to get an ass whoopin. Unfortunately, Fang pulled the short straw and got two. And thanks for all the reviews! I really do appreciate them. I'm planning on posting the next couple chapters sooner than later so I can get most of the stage-setting drama out of y'all way and start getting to more of (what I consider) the fun stuff.


	5. Chapter 5

Blinding flash of light.

Smoke and lightning.

Gunshots and sparks flying everywhere.

Storm clouds

A piercing scream.

A loud roar.

Fiery beast.

Wild eyes…

Lightning woke with a start. Her skin felt clammy and her hair was matted to her head with sweat. That dream… She had had it before. Hadn't she? She ran her hand over her face and turned around to hug the pillow. She didn't want to go to school. It only took one day for the rumors to thoroughly spread through the teen circuit about what happened in the back room of the Vestige. She hadn't spoken to Snow or Hope since the incident, but technically all three of them were punished, so that made sense. She had only seen her father for a brief while yesterday, but even then he avoided eye contact and refused to speak to her. She had messed up. Bad.

She tried to squirm her way back under the covers, but was stopped by something very unfamiliar. She froze. Was that the smell of bacon cooking? It couldn't be. Lightning slowly climbed out of bed and began to get dressed. When she descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Serah?" The kitchen table had been set, and the younger sister had already cooked bacon, eggs, and biscuits for the two. "You woke up early?"

Serah turned from the counter, where she was pouring herself a glass of juice. She smiled softly at Lightning. "Yeah. I figured today would only get worse. Might as well start it off nice while we have the power to."

"Thanks." Lightning took a seat at the table and started poking at her eggs. She looked back up towards her sister. She looked drained. An outsider might think that she had been the Farron girl who was arrested for the fiasco at the Vestige. Lightning couldn't help but feel bad about it. Although Serah had no immediate hand in it, she had been thrust into this whole ordeal too. Her best friend, crush, neighbor, sister, and father were all involved… all the people she felt closest to.

"Only get worse, huh? Heh. You know, before today you had me worried," Lightning began in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. Serah looked at her questioningly. "For awhile, I actually thought we had an optimist in the family."

It worked. Serah chuckled lightly and averted her eyes to the ground. "Haha, yeah. Wouldn't want that."

Lightning smiled faintly and began to eat. After a few quiet moments, Serah's phone buzzed. "Snow wants to know if we need a ride today."

Lightning shook her head. She knew that she needed to talk to Snow, but she didn't want to do it with Serah around. "We'll have time today. I'd rather we walked."

Serah nodded in understanding and texted Snow back. They finished breakfast and Lightning began to put the dishes away. As she stood at the sink, she felt a soft pair of arms encircle her from behind and squeeze. Light's body went rigid out of instinct but slowly relaxed into the hug. Maybe they did need an optimist in the family. She didn't want the rest of the day to be a downhill spiral.

* * *

The walk to school didn't take as long as Lightning had hoped it would. There was still a bit of time to spare before the first bell rang when they stepped across the lot and onto the school lawn. She noticed an immediate difference in the atmosphere. Today, almost everyone was staring at her. Her body slightly tensed as her eyes slowly scanned over the faces of those she passed. Serah reached for his sister's hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"Yoooo, Lightninnnnnggggg," a skinny blonde haired boy in an oversized hoodie and beanie approached the two. He reached out an open hand to grab Lightning's free one and gave it a squeeze. "Way to fight back against 'the man'."

Lightning stared at the boy in total confusion. The boy's companions, who had walked up after him, nodded and added comments of agreement, some reaching out to pat her on the shoulder as she continued to walk past.

"Lightning!" Two girls appeared in front of the sisters, causing them to abruptly stop in mid-step. "That was so awesome what you did at the Vestige! Taking out two cops before peacefully turning yourself in in the name of broader liberal education?! Can we run a story on you in the school paper?"

"Uh… sure?"

One of the girls squealed and grabbed the other girl's hand, dashing off. Lightning looked down at her younger sibling, a perplexed look across her face. "Serah, what's going on?" She then leaned in closer to apprehensively ask in a much lower voice, "You didn't drink any water out the faucet this morning, did you?"

Serah just responded with a wide-eyed look to show that she was just as flabbergasted as Lightning. She had expected there to be some buzz about the incident, but she hadn't expected this. "I don't know."

"Hey! Lightning!" Both of the sisters looked up again. This time the voice came from one of the senior boys, Blake Thompson, star of the football team. He gave Lightning a head nod and grinned. "Heard what you did. That was hot."

"What?" Lightning asked in a purely disbelieving tone. She suddenly felt her hand being yanked and she was dragged across the school lawn, constantly surrounded by murmurs and whispers.

"Serah, what the hell?!" Lightning rasped when they finally came to a stop and her sister released her hand.

"Lightning? Do you understand what's happening?"

Lightning looked back at her with uncomprehending eyes that demanded for her own question to be answered before answering the one that was given to her. Serah rolled her eyes and sighed, grabbing both of Lightning's hands in her own. "You're becoming popular! It's like you're the new 'it' girl on campus!"

Lightning's brow furrowed. She didn't respond to Serah but seemed to be thinking about all the attention she had gotten when they first arrived. As they stood there, she could still hear some of the conversations on the lawn that seemed to be revolving around her.

_I heard she took out like three cops._

_Her daddy had to bail her out, and of course she got off scot-free._

_I knew she was badass, but that was totally badass!_

_She helped clue the police in about the Pulsians trying to steal secrets about Cocoon._

"Farron!" A familiar voice boomed from across the lawn. Lightning's head shot up, breaking her from her silent reverie. The whole yard simultaneously hushed as Gadot jogged up to the two sisters. "Ugh… this is just perfect." Lightning groaned to herself, casting Gadot an unwelcome look.

Nevertheless, he smiled at her on his approach and bent over to mock-catch his breath. "I've been looking for you. Have you seen Snow? I think those 'ten tasers' and bottle of tear gas he took the face has him brain damaged. He was almost thinking of pulling the plug on the house party we're planning on throwing soon."

Lightning stared at Gadot with a wary expression. They never talked like this. They rarely talked ever if they weren't arguing. "No… I haven't seen him. His aunt and uncle will let him throw a party?"

"Farron, since when does any adult know about our parties? But this one's going to be extra special. Wanna know why?"

Lightning could really care less, but she took the bait anyway. "Why?"

"Because for this one," Gadot lowered his head and leaned in close to Lightning as if he were telling her a precious secret, "we're going to let you control the invites."

Although Gadot had made a show about telling Lightning this in confidence, he had still spoken in a loud, resonating voice. Everyone around them started to murmur. "So?" Gadot asked. "Know of any people off the bat you want me to scribble on the list?"

Lightning looked down at Serah, who lightly smiled and squeezed her hands. She turned back to Gadot. Did this have anything to do with Serah's newfound popularity theory? "No one in particular."

"Ahh. The whole Vestige thing been bugging you, huh? I know how rumors can sometimes be a bit of a bitch. How about this? Me and the guys will make the list as usual, but if anyone makes you uncomfortable with this whole Vestige mess, let us know and we'll make sure they never get past the front door. Deal?"

Lightning's tense shoulders loosened a bit once she realized what was happening. He was trying to help give her some relief from all the unwanted attention. "Deal," she agreed.

The crowd near her on the lawn slowly started to drift away, probably searching for a place out of earshot to continue their gossip. Lightning couldn't say that she was upset to see most of them go. She glanced back up at Gadot. "I'm guessing this means I owe you, huh?" She had tried masking the sound of gratitude in her voice, but she knew he could tell how thankful she was.

"Hahaha, well you won't. Once you come to our party, that is."

"What?" Gratitude GONE.

"Some guys from North Bodhum Magnet are trying to throw something the same day as us. They're holding out on announcing the date and everything til they hear ours. So to make sure they don't outdo us or anything, we need something that'll attract more people to our party. Something, or let's say someone, new. Something exciting. Something… hot." He gave her a carnal grin on saying that last word. "Hi, Lightning."

Lightning shuddered before casting him a disgusted glare. "So you're using me to—"

"And as an act of good faith," Gadot didn't wait for her to finish her berating before swinging his book bag around and fishing for some papers in it, "I brought you the answers to Palmer's packet. Figured you'd need these."

Lightning froze. She had forgotten all about the packet from the Vestige. As if it had a mind of its own, her hand slowly reached forward to take sheets from Gadot.

"Uh, uh, uh," Gadot quickly pulled the papers out of her reach. "You're coming to the party, right?"

Lightning's jaw tightened. Gadot was toying with her Saturday freedom as well as her sanity. "I'll probably still be punished when you guys throw it."

"Well, actually," Serah piped up from behind, "Dad usually works later nights on the weekends. If you were to sneak out and go to the party, he'd probably never even know."

Lightning shot Serah a look that had, "Traitor," written all over it. Serah smirked in reply. The elder sister let out a defeated breath before looking back to Gadot. "Okay. I'll go to your party."

"That's the spirit," Gadot said as he handed her the papers. "It was nice doing business with you. Both of you." He smiled at Lightning one last time and nodded at Serah before taking his leave.

Lightning watched him go. She was still a little bit in shock over what had just happened. "Well," She heard Serah say breathe to her. "This semester is going to be fun."

* * *

Vanille struggled to pull some of the books out of her crammed locker. She had never been known for being orderly and with the morning she had been having, she was regretting not having taken the time to at least sort her locker out earlier. One of her binders was stuck in an awkward, wedged position underneath two heavy books she had checked out of the library. She let out an exasperated sigh and dropped her bag to the floor to grasp the binder with both hands and try to pull it out.

Nothing.

She gritted her teeth and gripped the binder again. With all the strength she could muster, she yanked at the stubborn thing. This time it flew straight backwards out of the locker and across the hall, spitting out papers in every which direction as it did so. Laughter broke out all through the hall and she cursed under her breath.

She slowly turned and bent over to start picking up some of the stray papers. She tried to ignore most of the comments and whispers that were said from the students who walked past.

_"Clumsy Pulsian…"_

_"Isn't she still supposed to be in jail?"_

_"Ha. No wonder they got caught."_

Vanille kept her eyes to the floor as she gathered her papers. She crawled forward across the hall, looking to grab her binder to stash them in. She reached out her fingers and right before they could touch the book, a shoe shot out from beside her and kicked it away.

Vanille quickly looked up with hurt eyes. "Oops." A heavy boy in a purple shirt and green jeans said, not looking sorry at all. "It was in the way." More laughter filled the hallway. The boy gave Vanille a smug smirk and continued walking down the hall, kicking the binder once more to make it go further when he had reached it again.

Vanille looked down glumly at the papers that she clenched in her hands. Her eyes started to burn and she fought against letting her lip tremble and her face contort in that depressed frown that usually led to oncoming tears. Usually, she could take a little bullying; she'd just let the insults and rude behavior roll off of her like water on wax paper. But today was different. She already had so much weighing down on her; she just didn't have the willpower to deal with it today.

"Vanille?"

The girl was so busy trying to drown out the sounds of whispers and laughter that she didn't even hear the friendly voice that had said her name. She just wanted to go home. Not back home to the reservation, but HOME home.

"Vanille." A large, gloved hand rested gently on her shoulder. She turned to meet the concerned blue eyes of Snow, who was now kneeling next to her. Standing behind him with a pair of books clutched to her chest was a brunette girl who she recognized as Lebreau, someone Fang would sometimes chat with.

Fang...

"Vanille, are you okay?" Snow reached down to gently grab the redhead's shoulders and pull her up.

Lebreau looked down the hall at the mess of stray papers. Her expression switched from one of slight curiosity to one of deep sympathy. "Aw, honey… I'll go get those for you." Before Vanille could protest, Lebreau was already walking down the hall, bending over to pick up papers.

"Vanille," Snow brought her attention back to him. "What happened? Was someone messing with you?"

Vanille just shook her head and looked down. Snow's eyes never left the girl. He could tell that she was lying. Her demeanor showed it all, if her silence didn't it. But as Snow watched her, he wasn't even sure if bullying was the problem. The usually chipper redhead just looked… miserable. There were bags under her tired looking eyes and she was wearing a slightly oversized long-sleeved shirt (instead of one of her usual bright halter tops) with one her mini-skirts. Snow didn't want to push her though. He remembered how bad he had physically felt after leaving the drunk-tank on Saturday. He had no idea what Vanille might have gone through or how long it was taking her to recover. "How's Fang?" he asked instead.

"Fang's still not feeling too well. She couldn't come to school today."

Snow simply nodded as Lebreau returned with Vanille's binder and a handful of papers. "Would you like us to walk you to class?" Snow asked. Lebreau nodded in support.

"No, thanks. I've got it," Vanille said softly. She quickly grabbed up her knapsack, closed her locker, and speed walked down the hall, leaving the two other students behind her.

* * *

"Lightning Farron."

Gadot looked away from the vending machine that he was currently shaking and towards the voice that had approached him. A skinny girl with blue eyes, short blonde hair, and a thin nose was marching straight towards him. He let out a tired breath. It was Alyssa Zaidelle, the class president and a professional nagger. "I'd love to talk with you, Lyss, but as you can see, I'm kinda dealin' with a hostage situation over here."

"Well, as you can see, I'm kind of dealing with a situation of my own, too. Lightning Farron. Lightning Farron. That's all I've been hearing all day. Who is Lightning Farron?" Alyssa crossed her arms in front of Gadot and shifted her weight to one hip.

"If you've been hearing her name everywhere, why can't you ask who she is somewhere else? Anywhere else?" Gadot tilted his head, trying to study the angle at which his chips were being held captive by the claw that had not fully released it.

"No, I can't because everyone else didn't give her improvisation rights to their party list." Alyssa's eyebrows narrowed on the boy. "Is she one of your little…?" She made a crude gesture with her fingers.

"Wha…" Gadot turned his head away from the vending machine to see what Alyssa was talking about. His eyebrows shot up in surprise on seeing what she was doing. "No! If you must know, she's your neighbor. She lives like two houses down from you. And I mean, she's hot and all but, uh… Maybe I just wanted to give her some slack. She doesn't exactly like, well… people, I guess. The party thing was just a way of helping each other out." Gadot slammed his shoulder against the machine, causing a loud sound of collision followed by the little PLINK of his chip bag falling. He smiled victoriously at the bag before shooting Alyssa a suspicious look of his own. "Why are you so interested?"

"Some new girl appears—"

"She's been your neighbor for like ten years."

"—and just becomes popular all of a sudden, without even trying, during the year that I'm supposed to be a shoe-in for homecoming princess? Everyone knows that whoever wins homecoming princess is guaranteed to win queen senior year, and NO ONE deserves it for this school more than me."

"Awww, leave the girl alone. Lightning's not even into all that." Gadot made a shooing motion and opened his bag of chips. Alyssa ignored him. She seemed to be completely lost in her own thoughts now.

"Women…" Gadot sighed under his breath before walking away, leaving a contemplative Alyssa behind him.

* * *

Snow slid into the doorway of the chemistry lab with only seconds to spare before the bell rang. He smiled proudly at his feat and puffed out his chest. "Well now that you're here, Mr. Villiers, would you mind taking a seat?" the teacher sitting on a stool at the front of the room asked.

"Oh. Uh, yes, ma'am."

"And please take that rag off of your head. Have some respect for the classroom."

"Yes, ma'am." Snow reached up and slowly dragged the skullcap from his head.

"Oh…" The teacher's voice hung low and the rest of the class silently laughed. Whoever had been in charge of cutting Snow's hair for drug testing had done a pretty liberal job. They had cut most of the hair on his sides, leaving a huge blonde mane at the top that was bordered by thin curtains of hair at the bottom. "You know what, Mr. Villiers? I'll let it slide for the time being."

"Thank you, ma'am," Snow said, securing the cap back on his head and ignoring the snickers from mostly everyone else.

His eyes roamed the lab tables for a free seat and landed on an empty stool next to Lightning. Usually he would never even attempt to sit next to the girl. He knew that she had little patience when it came to him and most of the times when they were paired to work together on something, she became very 'hitty'. But there was no escaping the moment now. He felt somewhat obligated to talk to her today considering the events of the weekend. That and she was motioning for him to take the seat beside her, something that she never did. Snow didn't even want to think of the consequences if he denied, so he navigated his way through the room and sat on the tiny stool next to her.

It only took the teacher a few minutes to briefly go over the instructions for the day's lab. She then let her students begin, sitting at her own lab table to play on her computer.

"Snow."

"Neighbor."

Lightning gave him a long look and reached up towards a shelf to grab a clean beaker. "So what kind of punishment did you get?"

"Nothing heavy. This isn't exactly the worst thing that I've been sent to the drunk tank for." Snow gave Lightning an awkward smile as she lined up a slew of bottles on the table in front of them. "Let me guess, Colonel put the hammer down on you?"

Lightning released an audible breath and poured a liquid into the beaker. "I guess you can say that." She nodded in the direction of the Bunsen burner to signal Snow to set it up.

Snow simply nodded. He had talked to Serah over the weekend and she had already told him about the silent treatment that their father was putting Lightning through. Serah believed that their dad knew that Lightning would punish herself far worse than he could as long as he kept making her feel guilty about it. According to Serah, their dad wasn't even home most of the day to even effectively take most of her privileges away. He wouldn't say anything though. He valued the feeling in his arm way too much to let her take it away by punching him.

"I hear Hope's been getting it bad, too. His dad's gone berserk. He's been talking with the principal and threatening to register him in classes at a 'more wholesome' school."

"Hmph. More like a Pulsian-free school," Lightning scoffed. She slowly placed the beaker on the counter and let her eyes fall down on the table.

Snow could feel the mood slightly shift after that last statement. He rubbed the back of his neck, as he usually did when he was nervous and softly cleared his throat. "You, uh, haven't talked to Fang lately, have you?"

Lightning's eyes darted up to meet Snow's. The intensity behind them was almost enough to make him fall off his stool. The girl must've noticed how off-balanced she made him because her eyes softened a bit afterwards. They still kept an angry edge to them though. "She's your friend. Have you talked to her?"

Snow subconsciously scooted his stool further away from the pink-haired girl. "Sorry, just asking. You two didn't seem like enemies, or anything, the other day. But, uh, no. I saw Vanille in the hall. She looked bummed; said Fang wasn't feeling too good, so she stayed home."

"Well, makes sense." She was clocked in the head by the butt of a grown man's gun. "She wasn't in history today either," Lightning admitted. The raven-haired girl had made it her business to sit behind Lightning every day in that class since their exchange in the parking lot. The seat had been noticeably empty today. Once again, the image of Fang's body lying motionless on the floor flicked across her mind.

While Lightning silently thought to herself, Snow continued with the lab. After a moment, the pink-haired girl looked up to see Snow getting ready to pour a chemical that had not been mentioned in the instructions into one of the cylinders. "What are you doing?"

Lightning immediately snatched his wrist in a tight grasp to stop him. Snow closed his eyes and prematurely winced, expecting some sort of slap or punch to gut to accompany it, but it never came. He opened a cautious eye to peep at her. She was holding his wrist in the air. The long sleeve of his jacket had been pulled down by gravity, revealing his bare forearm. Lightning's eyes were glued to the strange marking that was tattooed it. "So you do have one too…" she spoke softly, releasing him.

"Oh, uh, yeah. The police brand."

"Police brand?" Lightning was still eyeing his forearm skeptically.

"Yeah. When they found us at the Vestige, they must've given us these police brands. That way, if we escaped before they could put us into custody, everybody would know that we were fugitives from the law. It'll probably wear off in a few days." Snow licked his forearm then started rubbing at the mark vigorously.

"Ew, stop that." Lightning snatched Snow's rubbing arm to still it and moved it away from the mark. "My dad is on the force and I've never heard of a police brand."

"Your dad works for PSICOM. He doesn't do all the local stuff like Guardian Corps. They probably have different ways."

Lightning huffed. "I just highly disbelieve that we were marked by police." Her hand idly rose to hover over the intimate area where she had been branded.

"They have the technology for it. All they have to do is pull back a simple piece of clothing and—"

"It couldn't have been the police, okay!" Lightning exclaimed, pounding her fist on the table. At the exact moment, a small cloud of fire erupted on the table, sending both teens jumping backward.

"Holy— whoa!" Snow yelled.

"Farron! Villiers! What's going on over there?"

"Nothing, ma'am!" Snow called back. His breathing had quickened and he wiped his head with the back of his hand. "Bunsen burner must be on crack or something…"

Lightning stared at the Bunsen burner as well, albeit more dubiously. Snow had never set it up. It wasn't hooked to the gas pipe. What the hell had just happened? The gas wasn't even turned on. Her whole body felt warm from all the excitement, but she shifted her gaze back to Snow before repeating in a calmer but still defiant manner, "It couldn't have been the GC."

"Well, if it wasn't the GC, then who was?"

There was a quick moment where Snow may have actually been waiting for answer. Then both of their eyes met and knew what each other was thinking. They simultaneously looked back down at the lab table. "Well…" Lightning breathed. Goosebumps formed along her spine as she recalled the fear she had felt on seeing that mechanical creature crawl out from the domed base. "Maybe it was the GC."

* * *

It was the end of the day, and Vanille was once again at her locker. She heaved a big breath of relief. She was ready to get back to the reservation. She balanced a couple of books in one hand while she crammed a few papers back into her locker with the other.

SMACK!

The books tumbled from their balancing place on her arm and fell to the floor. "Oops." Vanille glanced up. The same boy with the purple shirt from earlier was walking past with one of his friends. He had the same smug grin on his face. "They were in the way again." The boy laughed, dapping off his friend.

Vanille stared at the books that lay on the floor. Her hands started shaking, but not in fear or sadness. This was definitely anger. Before she could think or tell her body to stop, she had reached to roughly grab the boy's arm before he could walk away.

"What?" The boy turned and looked at her threateningly.

Vanille didn't really know what. She wanted to hurt him. Hurt him the same way he had hurt her. She wanted to make him feel sad, and humiliated, and sick the same way that he had made her feel when he kicked her binder down the hallway earlier that day. She couldn't tell if it was anger, hate, or what, but a strange feeling had built up in her chest and felt as if it were flowing through her body and to her hands. She wanted to hurt him so much but had no idea how.

COUGH! COUGH!

The boy's arm pulled out of her grip. He bent over and covered his mouth. COUGH! COUGH!

Vanille's slowly took a couple steps back from the boy while his friend bent next to him. The boy's face had nearly turned green. "Dude? Dude, you okay?"

The boy vomited on his friend's shoes is response. Vanille took this as her chance to leave. She briskly took off down the hall with her things. As she walked she could hear the boy groaning and his friend cursing. She recognized the look on that boy's face. It was the same way that Fang looked when she had gotten sick with food poisoning that one time. Vanille didn't slow down until she had exited the school and reached the bus stop. She took a deep breath and stared at her hands. That feeling she had had earlier… it was gone. And she knew she had felt something, something akin to a transfer of energy passing through her to the boy. She couldn't have… could she?

* * *

Vanille walked up the dirt path through the trees that led to the heart of the reservation, the clearing where many of the living trailers were positioned. Her mind was clouded with so many thoughts that she didn't greet most of her neighbors as she bee-lined straight to her trailer.

"Oi! Vanille!"

Vanille stopped and turned. Yaschas Bron Dane, a boy not too much older than Fang who lived on the reservation as well, jogged up from behind her. He was a pretty tall boy, very lean and muscular, with the same tanned skin tone as Fang. He had hazelish-golden eyes under bushy eyebrows and black, somewhat spiky, hair. A couple of intricate woven-looking bands were tattooed around his left bicep. He had an easy smile on his face that slowly fell as he got closer and noticed how perturbed Vanille looked. "Whoa, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded, unconvincingly. If anything came out of Vanille's mouth that wasn't practically sung, anyone could tell that something was wrong.

Dane nodded, but didn't push. He knew that Vanille and Fang sometimes had rough days since integrating that public Cocoonian school. Yes, he hated life most of the time back when he had to take classes at Gran Pulse Charter, a school placed on the edge of the reservation whose curriculum seemed to be made purposely to tell the Gran Pulse children how much better Cocoonians were than them, but at least there was no discrimination amongst the students. "Okay. Well, when's Fang getting home? I haven't seen the car all weekend and I think she had it last. Willow's been buggin' me about driving her to the bloody movies all week. Somethin' or the other about that one actor who makes her forget she has arthritis."

"Oh." They had forgotten all about the car. Vanille hoped that it was still parked at the Vestige. "I'll ask her about it when I get inside."

Dane's eyebrows shot up. "She didn't go to school? Funny, I didn't see her around at all today."

"She wasn't feeling well."

"Huh…" Dane's voice trailed. His face looked slightly worried as he slowly looked from Vanille to the trailer that she shared with her more rambunctious counterpart. "Well, if ya need anythin', let me know."

Vanille nodded and continued to her trailer.

None of the lights were turned on when she entered. To her immediate left was the sink and stove, followed by a closet and the bathroom. Hidden behind the open bathroom door was a small bunk bed that had been built into the trailer's side. Exactly opposite of where she stood was the kitchen table and benches. To her right was a small sofa, and positioned across from the sofa, in a corner, was a tiny TV. Past the sofa was a curtain that separated the rest of the trailer from the bedroom area. Vanille silently closed the door behind her and slid the curtain open.

It was much darker in this part of the trailer. The big bed that she shared with her best friend looked like a mess of covers, but Vanille could make out one of the bigger lumps in the covers that was scooted all the way against the wall on the opposite side of the bed from the entrance. Vanille quietly took off her shoes and slid beneath the covers, inching forward until she was pressed against the familiar wall of Fang's back. She closed her eyes and curled into a ball, still nuzzling into the older girl's back. She then slid a hand under Fang's arm in order to hug her around the stomach.

She hadn't been sure if Fang was awake until she felt the Yun girl move her hand so that her arm was covering Vanille's and pressing it closer to her body. They stayed like this for a while until Fang broke the silence. "Rough day at school?" Her voice was soft and raspy, not much louder than a whisper. "You didn't bump your bruises too much today, did you?" Fang's hand gently rubbed up her bruised arm that had been covered by one of Fang's long-sleeved shirts.

Vanille slowly opened her eyes. She was surprised by the blurriness and had to blink a few times to clear her vision. She hadn't noticed that she had been crying, but Fang must've felt the moisture on her back. It was then that she realized she had been slightly trembling as well.

"A little," she answered. "And no, the bruises didn't bother me. I just missed you." Her eyes roved from Fang's back to her shoulder, landing for a short period on the bandage that was wrapped around her upper arm. It was bad enough that someone had marked them with some sort of brand, but then Fang had gotten injured again when the guards dragged her out of her cell to fight that silver lobo.

Fang released an audible breath. "I should've gone today. I knew it was gonna be rough, and I can't protect you from bed."

"Hey," Vanille's voice softened. "We promised to protect each other, remember? I haven't been doing a good job of protecting you, either."

Vanille dug her hand below Fang's stomach and pulled upwards, slowly rolling the girl over to face her. Fang complied without a fuss. Vanille's breath almost stopped when looking over Fang's naturally beautiful face and she had to fight to hold back more tears. The upper left side of Fang's face was swollen with a big gash across the temple. Her eye was almost swollen shut as well, with the only visible part of the eye actually being a tiny, red slit.

Fang eyebrows slightly furrowed in shame and she avoided eye contact. Vanille felt as if her heart were breaking. She reached out to gently cup Fang's face. The face that had now become a blatant sign of how much Vanille couldn't protect her friend. It was all her fault. She had convinced Fang that it would be a good idea to break into the Vestige in the first place, and now Fang would be forever scarred by the event. She wished there was a way she could've prevented it. She wished there was a way she could heal her friend…

"Ahhh." A light green glow emanated from her hand. Vanille stared in bewilderment at it. Fang's eyes rose upward, confused by the strange light as well; her features twisted into one of puzzlement mixed with a bit of fear, but neither girl moved.

Vanille felt her mouth slightly drop open. A cool, tingling feeling was running from her chest through her arms, almost similar to the feeling she had earlier today in the hallway with the boy. When the feeling had ebbed and disappeared, so did the green glow. Her hand, still gently cupping Fang's face, was trembling. Her eyes quickly jumped to look at her best friend, not knowing how to explain.

Vanille gasped. Fang was staring back at her with a panicky expression. Both of her eyes were widened in fear and surprise, on a beautifully flawless face. Vanille mindlessly ran her hand up and down the side of the raven-haired girl's perfect face, barely believing what she was seeing. "You're… You're healed."

Fang just stared at her. "You have… You can do stuff too?"

Vanille looked at Fang questioningly, partly not knowing how to respond and partly asking, "You did something like this, too?"

"Van… what's happening to us?"


	6. Chapter 6

A couple more days passed and the hype surrounding the events at the Vestige still had yet to die down. Lightning and Serah walked across the busy parking lot, early this morning from accepting another ride from Snow. Lightning gave the now customary head nods and salutatory hand gestures to most of the kids who were now calling out to her or trying to get her attention. Serah had to chuckle to herself at the serious and non-welcoming expression that was plastered across her sister's face the entire time.

"Yoo hoo! Lightning! Lightning Farron!" a high-pitched voice called from across the lot.

Without even looking in the direction of the voice, Lightning just raised her hand over her head and wiggled it in a nonchalant waving motion. She had only gone a few steps before her path was suddenly blocked by a skinny blonde girl. "Lightning Farron!" the girl exclaimed with a smile. Lightning looked at her as if she were an alien, irked that she had jumped in front of them like that. "I was calling you from over there, but I guess you didn't hear me."

Lightning just continued to eye the girl with an aggravated look on her face. "Oh, you must not remember me. I'm Alyssa. Alyssa Zaidelle, junior class president."

"We're neighbors," Lightning stated, her facial expression never changing.

"So you do remember!" Alyssa's face lit up with a smile. She grabbed Lightning's hands and bounced excitedly.

Lightning's eyes dropped down to their conjoined hands. She obviously wasn't pleased. "Yeah… We used to have dress-up parties together as kids." Alyssa nodded enthusiastically, seemingly enthralled by every word that left Lightning's mouth. Light's face now shifted to one of uncertainty as they silently stood there. She slowly pulled her hands up, freeing them from Alyssa's surprisingly tight grasp. "Did you, uh, need something?"

"Oh! Tee hee hee," Alyssa laughed, or more like squeaked in Lightning's opinion. "I just wanted to say that I felt so bad after hearing about what happened at the Vestige. I mean, what if something happened to you and you were seriously hurt or locked away forever?! Then I'd never get a chance to rekindle the great relationship I had with one of my best, childhood friends!"

Lightning raised an un-amused eyebrow. "Yeah. That would just be tragic. Augh…" She gasped and rubbed her side on feeling Serah's elbow roughly nudge her in the ribs.

Alyssa tried to think of something else to say. She was losing ground fast and she knew it. Her eyes flitted up to catch notice of the light pink hair shared between the two girls. "Wait a second," she said, raising a finger. "Didn't you try out for cheerleading?"

Lightning gave her a look that blatantly read, "That is the very last thing that I would ever do," but the younger sibling lightly cleared her throat. "No, that would be me. I tried out for cheerleading. I didn't make it though. They said they only add one freshman on per year, and I wasn't it…"

"Ohh, that's soooo sad. But you do know, a free spot did open up on the squad recently! One of my best friends, Stacy, is the captain. She said they're looking for new blood. If I put in a good word and you do well during try-outs, you're guaranteed to make the team!"

"Really?" Serah's eyes almost popped out of her head. "You would do that?"

"Wellllll," Alyssa moved her finger up to her chin, a doubtful look on her face, "She would do it for me if she knew I was doing it as a favor to a close friend, but she's never seen me hanging around either of you before."

"Sounds like it wasn't meant to be," Lightning said, making a move to start walking again.

"BUT!" Alyssa quickly continued before Lightning could take a full step, causing the pinkette to stop and let out an aggravated huff, "if me and Lightning were to spend more time together, like eating lunch, walking to class with each other, hanging out… I'm sure she'd be more than convinced. And that way, we could also rekindle our long, lost friendship! What do you think?"

Lightning was not moved at all. She had personally had her fill of Alyssa from this conversation alone, but she could feel Serah's eyes boring into her. Her mind screamed at her not to look, but she couldn't help it. It was like those steely blues were magnets to her own clear ones… and looking into them was indeed the worst thing she could've done. Lightning had never seen the girl's eyes so big with want.

Serah had been through a lot this week. She had to deal with all of the tension in the house because of the Vestige ordeal as well as all the attention at school. She had attended to Lightning's every need on that Sunday after the event just because she knew how bad Lightning had felt afterwards. Yeah, the worst thing Lightning could've done was look into those eyes. Those were the same eyes that had looked so sad and tired on Monday morning when she had woken up early to cook them breakfast… the eyes of a little sister who dealt with all this shit without a single complaint.

Lightning sighed and tried to force a friendly look on her face. "I think it sounds charming."

"Yayyy!" Alyssa squealed. Serah beamed and hugged Light's arm. The loud ringing of the first bell sounded across the lot. Lightning had never been so happy to hear it and immediately took this as her chance to stride past with her sister in tow. "See you at lunch, new bestie!" Alyssa called, a mischievous grin on her face.

* * *

Lightning slid into her usual desk during history and started pulling some supplies out of her bag. She had just placed her notebook on her desk when she heard the desk behind her creak from someone's added weight. She stiffened. Despite her newfound popularity, no one had sat at that desk since Fang had claimed it as her own. She didn't expect the girl to be gone forever, but she hadn't exactly figured out how she would feel on her return. Sympathetic? Angry? Nonchalant?

She let out a determined, albeit unsure, breath and turned around to face the girl that was responsible for everything that she had been put through. Problem was, the girl that was responsible for everything that she had been put through wasn't sitting at the desk. It was an overweight boy with huge, puffy lips who she had homeroom with.

"Hi, Lightning."

"Hey, Craig." She turned back around, letting her shoulders relax. Mr. Palmer started pacing the room as he usually did when he lectured, only stopping to scribble some things on the board.

She felt somewhat relieved. For some reason, with each passing day that Fang missed school, the more anxious Lightning got about seeing her again. She knew that she couldn't have been expelled. Although Serah said that Vanille had missed the past couple days as well, if the redhead had shown up on Monday, then that meant both of them were still enrolled. And she probably would've heard from Serah as well if Fang had been placed in a hospital for head trauma or something. Maybe she just decided that public school wasn't for her.

Lightning let her thoughts about Fang run their course before she tuned back in to Mr. Palmer's lecture and started taking notes. About halfway through, the door at the front of the room slowly opened. Mr. Palmer paused and a look of dismay washed over his face. Whispers erupted as a long leg crossed the threshold and Fang appeared at the front of the class. Lightning stiffened once again and felt her chest constrict, making it harder to breathe.

"Well, look who finally decided to return from vacation." Mr. Palmer's voice was cold. Lightning could only surmise that he was angry with Fang as well. She had made him look like a fool to his colleagues, the whole student body, the police force, and the Vestige staff.

Fang didn't respond, but just handed him a note. Mr. Palmer snatched it out of her hand and quickly scanned it. He grunted then nodded towards the back of the class. "Take a seat."

Fang gripped the lone strap of her book bag that was slung over her shoulder and started to make her way to an empty desk in the back corner of the room. As she walked past the middle row of desks, she turned her head to the center of the room to lock eyes with Lightning for a brief moment before passing her.

Lightning's face felt hot and her breaths had gotten quick and shallow. She was so stiff that she felt she would snap. Just when she had gotten cozy with the fact that the Pulsian wouldn't show up today, she waltzed right through the door. And she looked good. NO. Lightning quickly reprimanded herself. Those weren't the words that she wanted to use. She looked well. From what she could tell, there were no bumps, cuts, or bruises on her head or face. She was perfect. Wait…

Lightning was in the midst of cursing her subconscious over its choice of vocabulary when she felt something poke her shoulder. She slightly turned her head to see that Craig was tapping her with a folded piece of paper. She checked to see if Mr. Palmer was looking her way before reaching back and taking it from the boy.

She carefully unfolded the paper on her desk and skimmed over its scribbled message: Need to talk to you. Meet after school? -Fang

Lightning's face grew hotter and her brows creased. She looked over her shoulder to the corner of the room, where Fang was staring intently back at her. The Pulsian nodded her head downward. _Are you gonna answer it?_

Lightning gritted her teeth and whipped her head back to her desk to scribble her reply: NO.

She reached behind her to hand the paper back to Craig to pass back along to the back row. Lightning kept her head slightly turned so that she could see Fang opening the note in her peripheral vision. She turned her head a bit more when she knew that Fang had read her response and was greeted by a confused look from the other girl, who then ducked her head to write something else down on the paper.

When Fang had finished, she reached over to pass the note along again. Unfortunately she did not notice that Mr. Palmer slowly made his way to the back of the classroom while lecturing. He leaned in next to Fang's desk and quickly snatched the note between his own long fingers and crumpled it, never breaking from his lecture. He then confidently strode to the front of the room, still talking, and nonchalantly dropped the note into the trashcan, leaving a slightly ticked looking Fang slumped at her desk.

Finally, the bell rang. Lightning jumped out of her seat and nearly flew out of the classroom.

* * *

Lebreau and Lightning found a free table outside and placed their lunch trays down. "Oh please, Light. Look at the lunch lady! The only reason she doesn't let anyone have any extra desserts is because she's saving them for herself!"

Lightning gave Lebreau a comical look and slightly arched an eyebrow. "She said they don't do that because they're trying to fight adolescent obesity."

"And I'm sure she is fighting adolescent obesity," Lebreau huffed, breaking off a piece of bread and stuffing it into her mouth. "One brownie at a time."

On the other side of the yard, Fang leaned across a different table as she held a quiet and short-lived conversation with Snow. "FANG!" Gadot shouted as he marched to the table, effectively interrupting the other two teens. "Heard you served some time! Meet any new friends? Did some big chick named Bertha have you sitting between her legs while she braided more of your hair?" Gadot flicked the lone braid on the side of Fang's head with a smile once he had gotten close enough.

"Gadot. Now you know the only woman whose legs I like bein' between is yer mum's. And she likes my hair better when it's not braided." Fang made quick squeezing motions with her hands. "Better grip."

"C'mon, man! Can we have one conversation where you don't bring my mom into it?" Gadot complained, dropping himself on the opposite side of the table.

"What can I say?" Fang asked with a slight shrug. "Woman's got me smitten. But uh, Snow. You sure?"

Snow stopped chugging from his mini carton of milk and nodded. "Yep. Positive. Everything's been pretty normal around here. Well, except for the whole Lightning deal. I think everyone's mistaking the whole broody, not wanting to deal with people vibe as bad-assery. They just can't get enough of her."

"Hmm," Fang hummed in a low voice. She turned so that she was now staring at the pink-headed girl across the yard. "I can imagine."

Back on the other side of the yard, Lightning's head quickly shot up on hearing her name being called. "Lightning! Oh, Lightning! Lightning, I remember!"

Lebreau's head rose as well, looking towards the source of the voice. "Oh, no…" Lebreau groaned. An extremely peppy Alyssa Zaidelle was skipping across the yard toward them.

"Light, why is the spawn of Satan calling your name?" Lebreau asked right as Alyssa jumped to a spot in front of their table.

Alyssa tilted her head and gave Lebreau a thin-lipped smile. "Oh hey, Le-hoe. You're looking as… classy as ever."

"Bite me."

"Don't want to catch anything."

Lightning buried her head in her hands. "Breau, I kinda agreed to spend more time with Alyssa as a way to help get Serah on the cheerleading team."

Lebreau peered at Alyssa skeptically. "There's an open spot on the cheerleading team?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Breau-Breau." Alyssa crossed her arms. "As much as I know you love any activity that requires your legs flying open, I'm pretty sure that I can guarantee Serah the spot."

Lebreau ignored the comment and slit her eyes at Alyssa. "Who got kicked off?"

"Tamara had to leave for personal reasons."

"This have anything to do with the weekend at the movies rumor? Is it mono?"

"No, her mom's transferring her to boarding school."

"Bet'cha she wishes she just walked away with mono instead."

Alyssa gave Lebreau a disgusted look and quickly shifted her focus back to Lightning, whose face looked as pained as someone who was getting teeth pulled. "Anywho, I wanted to tell you that I remem—wait a second. Why is the Pulsian girl walking in this direction?"

Lebreau turned in her seat to look behind them. "Oooh. Fang's coming over."

Lightning turned her head to look as well. Alyssa became agitated by all the interruptions but still tried her best to regain Lightning's attention. "As I was saying, I was on my free period thinking about times past when I remem—"

"Hey." Fang had arrived at the table and inadvertently cut into Alyssa's story. Alyssa gave the newcomer a menacing look that Fang didn't seem to notice. She gave everyone at the table a little wave but only made eye contact with Lightning. "I've, uh, been tryna get a hold of you all day. There's something that I kinda need to talk to ya in private about. When you have free time, that is. It's pretty important."

Lightning's eyes were hard to read, but Fang could feel a coldness emanating from them. Alyssa's gaze flitted impatiently from Lightning to Fang. "Ugh," She had gotten tired of waiting. She had something to say and she wanted to say it now! "Claire!"

Lightning's head whipped back around to Alyssa, her eyes were wide and looked horror stricken. Alyssa smiled on getting such a strong reaction. "See? That's what I was trying to tell you! I remember now!" She pointed giddily at Lightning while bouncing on her toes. "You're Claire!"

Fang's face crinkled in slight confusion. "Nooo…" She said slowly, loosely pointing a finger at the pinkette as well. "She's Lightnight."

"LIGHT-NING!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed, forcefully enunciating each syllable.

Alyssa crossed her arms and looked at Fang as though studying her. "And you. You're Tooth, right?"

"Heh, close enough. I know you as well." She now pointed at Alyssa, who smiled back at her in a self-assured way. "Yer the one I didn't vote for."

"Haha! Yessss!" Lebreau sniggered, reaching a hand out behind her for Fang to playfully tap in a low five.

Alyssa's smile faltered for a brief moment before turning sweet again. She clasped her hands in front of her and tilted her head innocently. "Aww, that's so adorable. They let the Pulsian vote."

That wiped the smile clean off Fang's face. Her body tensed and a low growl rumbled in her throat. Alyssa coolly smiled back, a challenging look in her eye. Fang opened her mouth to speak and made a threatening move forward, but before she could finish either action, a hand had gripped her wrist and was dragging her across the yard. She spun around and dumbly followed the head of pink that led the way.

Alyssa lifted her finger to her chin as she curiously watched Lightning forcefully lead Fang across the yard. "Hmm… So she just so happens to be friends with Fang… I wonder what most of the school's stance is on the Pulsian integration," she thought aloud.

"Pssssttttt." Alyssa was jolted from her thoughts by Lebreau, who was now leaning across the table and giving her a scrutinizing look. "Why are you still here?"

"Ugh," Alyssa shook her head one final time in disgust and walked away.

Meanwhile, Lightning and Fang marched together until they rounded a corner into an empty area of the property between one of the school's outer walls and a gate. "I didn't know you were friends with Little Miss Bowl Cut," Fang said, looking back over her shoulder in the direction they had just left. Lightning stopped walking. She roughly threw Fang's wrist back and tightly folded her arms across her chest. Her eyebrows were raised yet still slanted downward in an upset and exasperated fashion.

Fang was caught a bit off guard by the hostility, but only took a second to regain her composure. "Well, uh, yeah. There's somethin' important I've been wantin' to talk to you about."

Lightning didn't respond nor did she show any emotional reception to the statement. Instead, her eyes curiously roamed over Fang's face. "That's why I asked if you had time after school," Fang continued slowly, watching the shorter girl with an unsure and somewhat confused expression on her face.

Lightning slightly shifted to her right to study one side of Fang's face before shifting to her left to quietly study the other side. Fang had never felt so self-conscious in her entire life and actually felt her cheeks warm up from all the attention.

Lightning's eyes stopped wandering around Fang's face. They rested for a quick moment on the girl's bandaged upper arm but then flew back up to meet Fang's emerald eyes. "Are you hurt?"

"What's that?" Fang was definitely not expecting the question. Lightning's eyes never wavered. They stayed locked on hers.

"Your head. Does it hurt?"

"Oh. No, actually, it's perfectly fi—"

SMACK!

It felt as if someone had lit the left side of her face on fire. Fang's head quickly flung to the side from the force of the slap. "Augh… Guess I deserved that." Fang slowly turned her head back to face Lightning when once again…

SMACK!

This one sent a much sharper pain up her cheek than the first one did before totally numbing it out. "Holllllyyyyyy behemoth tits, that one stung!" Fang jumped around in place with balled fists before settling down and letting out a few quick breaths.

"Do you know how much trouble I got in because of you? And then you have the nerve to ask if I want to talk to you after school? No! I can't stay after school because I'm punished for the crime I committed because of you!"

"In all fairness, any minute that ya have to spend on school property after the last bell rings should count as punishment anyway," Fang said, watching Lightning's right hand warily as she stretched her jaw.

Lightning shot Fang a sour look. "Do you even care? I stood up to my father for you. He pulled strings to have you guys released early and all you can do is make jokes?"

"Well excuse me if I don't start singin' praises to Colonel Farron and get on the floor to kiss his boots," Fang mumbled. It had been a low utterance but it was still loud enough for Lightning to hear and from the heated look that took over the girl's eyes, Fang immediately realized she had said the wrong thing.

"You'd still be in that prison if it weren't for him!"

"I'm a minor who was trespassing. I shouldn't have been in a PSICOM prison in the first place."

"No, you wouldn't have been there in the first place if you hadn't attacked a group of officers."

"Hey!" Fang's cool demeanor instantly shattered and she was now in Lightning's face. "I was defending myself." Lightning rolled her eyes but Fang quickly darted down to follow them, not wanting to lose direct eye contact. "How did you come to when you woke up in the Vestige, hmm? Pat on the back? Gentle shake? I woke up with a boot crushin' my windpipe. I woke up barely being able to breathe! But ya know what? Yeah. That's definitely how I would go about handling the oh so dangerous unconscious kid on the floor too! All I gave them was a couple love taps compared to what I got."

"Hmph. You keep playing the victim, but you don't look that scathed to me," Lightning grumbled.

"What?! You don't even—ahhhh!" Fang turned away from Lightning as one of her hands shot up to grab the bandaged part of her opposite arm. Out of the blue, her brand had started burning, almost as if it had been caught up in the heat of the argument as well. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and hoping that the pain in her arm would subside too.

After a moment, she heard Lightning release a pent up breath from behind her as well. "You're right."

"Hm?" Fang slightly turned to look at Lightning again. The pink-haired girl's eyes were focused on the ground and her face was somewhat scrunched in deep thought.

Light's eyes slowly rose back up to meet Fang's. "You're right. It's not fair—not right how they treated you. You didn't deserve that." The right side of Fang's mouth rose into a barely-visible, appreciative semi-smile at the statement. It wasn't an apology for what had happened; Lightning had nothing to apologize for in that matter. It was more of an acknowledgement, or a bit of an apology on behalf of society. Fang could tell it took a lot for Lightning to say it. "But if you know the scale isn't tipped in your favor, it doesn't help that you provoke people the way you do."

"Heh, everybody says that," Fang laughed quietly. "But I am sorry too. I didn't mean for everything to pan out the way it did. And I am thankful for you helping to bail us out like that. I really am. But something else has kinda come up. Something big. So I just gotta ask… Have there been any, uh, I dunno. Weird-goings-ons with you?"

"Weird-goings-ons?" Lightning didn't comprehend. Her whole life had been a weird-goings-on since the Vestige mess.

"I mean, have strange things been happenin' that you just can't explain? That ya think you might'a caused? Like people getting sick or, or something?"

Lightning rubbed a tired hand over her face. "Fang, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Fang gritted her teeth and desperately looked around as if waiting for a better explanation to physically pop out of the bushes. Her thumb rubbed against the bandage on her arm that her other hand was still holding. Suddenly her face picked up in realization. "How 'bout this? Have you noticed any strange mar—"

"Lightning?" Alyssa's head appeared from around the corner of the wall. Fang muttered something under her breath and threw her hands in the air. "Oh, Lightning, there you are! I hate to interrupt what looks like such an important conversation, but lunch is almost over and it's important that Stacy see us sitting together as much as possible with one of the home basketball games approaching so soon. Don't you agree?"

Lightning sighed and looked over to Fang. She seemed drained from the conversation, but much less wound up and tense than she had before. Maybe those two slaps did help her feel better. "No, Fang," she finally said. "Besides the obvious, nothing weird has been going on."

Alyssa smiled at Fang then reached her hand out. Lightning reluctantly took it, not even trying to put on a happy face, and was swiftly pulled away by the student president.

When the two had disappeared, Fang let out a loud, exasperated breath and reached up to put her hands on her head, slowly pacing around the empty space. Her whole chest felt warm. She put her arms down and idly stroked the bandage again. It had grown abnormally warm as well. Fang let a shiver run through her body before straightening up and confidently striding back out onto the yard. In the heat of the argument, she could've sworn that she heard a faint roaring in her ears.


	7. Chapter 7

Lightning leaned against one of the beams under the bleachers next to the football field and let out a deep breath. This was one of the only places where she could get some peace on this campus. Of course, the occasional sexually active couple or group of stoners would sometimes come along, but all of them were usually too preoccupied with their own business to pay her any mind. And even if they did try to start conversation, it would still be better than having to deal with Alyssa. That girl stuck to Lightning like white on rice. For a while, Lightning had even feared that she had somehow been lo-jacked. It also didn't help that she hadn't been sleeping well due to all the strange dreams she'd been having of late. So now, before lunch, she would hang out under the bleachers and relax until she had mentally prepared herself to go on the yard and sit with the junior class president.

"So this is it then?"

Lightning's head lifted from the beam on hearing a familiar, sultry voice not too far away.

"I could try to find more if you need it, but all the basic info should be in there," a different voice replied. This voice was a bit more high-pitched. It kind of sounded like a boy who hadn't hit puberty yet.

"Well, it's more than I had before. So what do I owe ya?"

Lightning leaned back to peer through the beams. Sure enough, she caught sight of that messy mop of frazzled black hair that belonged to the athletic, tanned girl she had history class with. In front of her was a much shorter boy with unruly blond hair and goggles sitting atop his head. Lightning recognized him as a kid who would sometimes tag along behind Snow and Gadot. The boy was currently giving Fang a look as if to say, "You know exactly what you owe me."

"Alright, alright," Fang conceded. "Just tryin' my luck." Fang dug in her backpack and pulled out an object that looked like some sort of mechanical part. A wide smile broke out across the boy's face and he excitedly snatched the object from her. He marveled at it in his hands for a moment as Fang now placed a few papers in her bag and zipped it up. "Thank you, sir Maqui. If I need anything else, I can call ya right?"

"Sure can…" Maqui replied, still gazing lovingly at whatever in the hell it was she had given him.

Fang turned around. She too had a big grin stretched out across her face. Truthfully, Lightning was puzzled by it. For someone who dealt with so much adversity, she always appeared to be so carefree and content. It almost even seemed like the incident at the Vestige hadn't even phased her.

"Lightalot?"

Lightning stiffened. Her cover had been blown. She looked up and slightly raised an eyebrow towards the Pulsian as she approached. "Do you make a list of those before school every day just to use when you see me?"

"Hehe, nope. All off the cuff," Fang answered with a light grin. Lightning silently nodded, not really knowing what to say next. The two of them hadn't actually talked to each other since their spat during lunch the other day, and considering everything that had happened, Lightning had started feeling guilty for slapping the other girl. Twice. It didn't exactly help her conscience that Fang was 'coincidentally' standing far enough from her just to be out of arm's reach.

"So…" Fang began, interrupting the brief silence that had fallen between them, "What're ya doing down here? Not that I've ever heard any rumors about you acting like a bit of a troll or anything, but spending your time under the bleachers? Tch…" Fang shook her head and made a semi-dramatic scolding face. Lightning noticed her take a small step backwards with one foot. If Lightning even twitched in her direction, she figured that the Pulsian was preparing to use evasive maneuvers.

"Would you rather I was down here wheeling and dealing with the freshmen?" Lightning returned, referencing the transaction she had just caught the end of.

"Well, look at you. Got a taste of the wild side and now you're on withdrawal?"

Lightning gave Fang an unimpressed look in response. Even if Fang could walk around acting like they hadn't been arrested recently, Lightning still felt it was a touchy subject.

"But since you're so curious," Fang said, leaning forward on her toes to get closer while still staying out of reach, "All it is is some info for a little side project I'm working on. I didn't really know how to go about finding anything on it, so I enlisted Maqui to help. Kid's a computer whiz. You?"

"Relaxing." The word had slipped out before Lightning could catch it. She couldn't explain it; even though their last conversation had included physical violence and a heated argument, it was kind of easy talking to Fang. The girl was so laid back that it just felt as if some of it had no choice but to rub off on her a bit whenever they were close.

"Under the bleachers?" Fang's eyes flitted up and around dubiously, taking in the unimpressive setting. "I guess it does have a sort of symmetric, prison-like feng-shui to it. So ya really are on withdrawal then, huh? Unless… are you waiting for someone?"

"Hm?" At first Lightning stared at Fang with a puzzled expression, but once the real meaning of the statement registered, her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red. "NO!"

Fang crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows at the pinkette. It had been an earnest question on her part. She didn't want to mess up the groove of some lucky bastard too badly, but the quick and vehement manner in which Lightning had answered interested her. "Well, if you say so… But doesn't it get awkward sometimes then, with people coming down here to, uh… ya know?"

Lightning shot Fang one last peeved look for her insinuation before rolling her eyes and admitting, "It does." She always made it a priority to skedaddle and cut her relaxation time short if a couple came down there too heated. She didn't need anything else to haunt her dreams at night. "But I guess we're all just trying to find ways to pass time."

"Uh huh…" Fang nodded, the edge of her lip twitching upward for a moment as a quick thought popped in her mind.

Lightning watched her curiously. There was somewhat of a conflicted look on the Pulsian's face as if she were debating on what she should say next, and Lightning wasn't sure if she should trust it. "Well… I've gotta go find Vanille," she finally seemed to decide on. She began walking backwards towards the end of the bleachers, grabbing onto some of the beams as she went. "But good luck with whatever it is that's got ya down here. If ya need someone to stress slap, I would volunteer but it still hurts when I chew on my right side."

Lightning let out an amused huff in response and softly shook her head, grabbing onto one of the beams to lean against it again.

"But!" Fang called back to her once she had gotten a fair distance away. Lightning's head lifted back up in Fang's direction again. "If you're ever down here just looking to 'pass time', I'd be more than willin' to lend a hand." Fang winked.

Once again, Lightning stood with her brows slightly bent in confusion. Fang could tell when the underlying quip finally hit her though because her face once again reddened and an appalled look passed across it. Fang couldn't help but grin at seeing the girl so flustered. It didn't last long, however, because the girl's features instantly hardened into a scowl afterwards.

Still smiling, Fang spun around and lifted a hand in the air to wave. "See ya 'round, Lighttrap."

Hell. Fang didn't think she'd have felt any better if she had even given the pink-haired girl a vengeful slap to the face.

* * *

"So how ready are you for the practice meet coming up?" Yuj asked.

He and Fang were standing in the middle of the football field where most of the track and field's field activities were currently set up. Fang squinted and simply shrugged dismissively.

"Never been more ready," she replied. "I mean, it's just us and Our Lady Etro competing, right? I've felt more pressure at some of our practices here."

"Haha, true," Yuj nodded. "But if you embarrass them enough, maybe it'll get you some of your cred back. Between the Vestige rumors and you missing all those practice days, Coach was about to flip. I think the principal tried getting him to kick you off the team."

"Pshhh. I am the field team for this school." Fang leaned a bit against the vaulting pole that she was holding onto. "Coach would more likely give up his firstborn than give up me."

Yuj laughed but quickly jumped upon hearing his name being called from one of the lanes on the track. "And the torture continues…" he murmured. "Meet you at the water cooler later?"

"You know it," Fang answered with a grin. Yuj walked off toward the 200-meter mark on the track while Fang stayed behind and squinted forward towards the jump that she was supposed to clear. It had really only been a few days since she had practiced, but to her body it felt like it had been weeks. Aside from the invigorating feeling she got every time she worked out, there was just something about her practice drills that reminded her of her childhood on Gran Pulse.

Example number one: the pole vault. Whenever she rode the pole vault upwards and into the air, she felt as if she were flying. It was nowhere near as exhilarating as when she would cliff dive or go wyvern fishing with Vanille, but she still got a little taste of it every time she lifted herself into the air. Nowadays, that was more than enough and more recently than ever she felt like she needed something familiar and comforting to hang on to.

Fang shook her head to clear it of all her nostalgic feelings. She inhaled and then let out a deep breath before raising the pole and taking off into a run toward her mark. She slowly lowered the pole with each powerful stride. The mat was quickly getting closer and closer. She lowered the pole further. HERE. She planted the pole into the ground and felt herself beginning to ascend when—SNAP!

"Whaaaaa?!" Fang immediately tumbled down onto the mat, rolling as she hit it. A broken piece of her pole fell to her side as smaller splinters rained down from above to shower her on the mat as well.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position and surveyed the damage. She could hear some of her other teammates exclaiming from their various places around the track. "Fang!" the assistant coach jogged up to mat and looked around incredulously. "Fang, you alright?"

"Yeah, Coach," Fang replied. She picked up and glumly eyed one of the severed pieces of pole that had landed dangerously close to her head. This wasn't a good sign…

"What in the hell happened?" The coach was leaning over the mat picking up some of the shards and splinters and throwing them to the ground.

Fang threw the big piece of broken pole over the side of the mat and shook her head. "Not sure, Coach. It all kinda happened pretty fast"

"Hmph. We've been trying to get this school to invest in some better track equipment for years now… But if the ever-so-beloved football team even hints that they've got a scuff on something, it's new gear for all of them! I think there's an extra pole somewhere around here. I'll send one of the trainers to go get it."

Fang nodded and climbed to her feet. Sometimes things just broke. That was the way of the world, right? With all types of thoughts and worries swimming in her head, she continued to clean off the mat until she was given a new pole. This time, the assistant coach decided to stand near in order to watch her next attempt. As Fang walked back to her starting point, she looked down at her hands, which were gripping the pole.

She stopped at her mark and then turned once again to face the mat. She slowly shut her eyes and dipped her head down for a short moment. "Just a freak accident… Just a freak accident…" she chanted to herself before opening her eyes to look back up.

The assistant coach waited expectantly and impatiently glanced between her and the mat. "Here we go," Fang breathed. Satisfied with her mental preparation, she once again repeated the process. This time, the pole did indeed stay intact as she rose to the air. As she ascended further, her hips rose, curling until her feet were over her head. It was a feeling so familiar to her now, as her body continued to rise.

That was… until something very unfamiliar happened at the peak of her vault. She didn't know what it was. She could feel something, something like a pent up energy being stored in her upper body. It was something obtrusive and hindering, like a cramp, and all she knew was that her body wanted to release it. Needed to release it.

And release it, it did. And boy, did it feel good.

Now all she felt was air. Air above her. Air below her. Air whooshing her hair from the sides. It was another familiar feeling, but it was not the familiar feeling of falling that she should be experiencing at this point in her vault. It was a feeling more akin to when she and Vanille and latched on to a wyvern that was way too big for such small children to be fishing for. It was the feeling of flying skywards.

Fang's eyes shot open. She didn't even remember when she had shut them. She frantically looked around. She was soaring upwards, and damn it felt good. But that feeling slowly switched to one of potent fear as she slowed to a stop in the air and began to descend again. Her body had immediately lost its poise and grace in her confusion as she rolled in the air and flattened out so that her body was in a parallel position to the ground.

Not the mat.

THE GROUND.

Fang's eyes darted downwards. That shit was coming to meet her faster than she had expected. Her body must've taken note of this before her mind did, because it was just then that she realized that her mouth was wide open and emitting a loud, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" sound.

She quickly buried her face in the crook of her elbow, with her hands pushing forward in an 'X' shape to block her head from the inevitable impact of the fall. In her head she kept trying to remember the words of advice that Vanille had given her not too long ago. "Concentrate on what it is you want to do. You need to really feel it."

Fang shut her eyes again and quickly started repeating a mantra in her head. _Guard against it. Guard against it. On all things holy, please guard against it._

A surge of energy felt as if it flowed out of her chest and throughout her body, causing her skin to stiffen.

POW!

"Shit…" Fang groaned, as she laid face first on the ground. She had flown too far forward in whatever mega-jump she had performed that she had missed the mat by a long shot and was now basically eating grass from the field.

"Fang! Fang!"

Multiple footsteps were running towards her. Fang groggily lifted her head up from the ground and spat out some dirt that she had almost accidentally swallowed. Her body ached, but considering how high up she had been, it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should've. "I'll be damned…" she muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Vanille was right."

"Fang!" The assistant coach was kneeling beside her. "Where does it hurt? What's broken? Oh, Etro…"

"I'm fine…" Fang mumbled. She planted her hands in the grass to push herself up.

"Fang, stay still!" That was the voice of her head coach, who had now appeared on the scene. "The trainers will be here in a sec, IF THEY'D JUST RUN FASTER!" The man shot an angry glare over his shoulder before also kneeling by Fang's side. "Does it feel like anything's broken?"

"No, I'm fine," Fang tried to push. She quickly sat up and wiggled her arms and legs. "I'm good."

The coach looked at her dubiously before looking sideways at the assistant coach. "How far up did she get?"

The assistant shrugged as Fang stood and stretched. "I want her sent somewhere where she can get x-rays. No one knows. She might have internal bleeding… or knocked her brain around a bit." The coach said that last part slowly as he eyed the girl who was now jogging in place in the grass.

"No, seriously Coach. I'm fine. I learned about this in physics. It's all about torque, acceleration, and velocity. With the speed that the pole brought me upward with and the way the wind was blowing, I didn't gain enough acceleration to hit the ground hard enough to break anything."

Both coaches continued to eye her.

"I'm serious."

"Well." The assistant coach scratched his head and looked over to his co-worker. "I was never really good at physics."

"Me neither," the head coach grumbled in a low voice. Fang let out a relieved breath through her nostrils. That's what she was hoping for.

"Well, if that's the case…" It was amazing how quickly the worried expression on her coach's face switched to one of pure joy, "I think we pretty much have the pole vault in the bag for the championship meet! Did you see how high you got up there?! Boy! …but wait. You haven't been getting a little bit of 'extra' help have you?"

"No, sir."

The coach just nodded and rubbed his chin. "Okay… But letting you know off the bat, if you pull anything like that at any of the meets, they'll probably want you to take a trip to the bathroom with them right after."

"I understand."

"And for the rest of the day… No more pole-vaulting. If you're really feeling as spry as you say you are, start practicing your javelin throw—"

"NO!"

The speed and intensity of her refusal shocked both coaches and even Fang herself. But losing control while pole-vaulting was one thing. She couldn't even begin to think about how deadly she might be if she went into over-drive when wielding a spear.

"I mean, I think I am feeling a little bit light-headed from everything. All the air whipping past and getting to my head… Just whew! I think I might need to have a seat." Fang looked up at her coach, trying to give him tired, puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, alright. But I want you over by the trainers. Let them take a look at you. And I want you to see one of those witch doctors or whatever you call them on your reservation too. Bring back a note. Or a stamp. Or whatever saying you're alright, got me?"

Fang's eyes lowered a bit in annoyance at the unintentional offhand comments about her culture but still nodded. "Yes, coach."

* * *

Immediately upon entering her house, Lightning threw her bag to the side and tumbled over the back of the sofa to flop down on the cushions. Serah was at one of the cheerleading tryout practices, meaning that the house would be empty for at least another two hours. Or so she thought.

"…but thank you for inviting me over. From the readings, it looks like whatever it detected came from a power source that hasn't been used in years, and especially not on Cocoon. I'm pretty sure that it was just a glitch in old machinery and I'll be back in Eden within the next few days." Lightning shot straight up into a sitting position on the couch, peeking over the edge. The door to her father's study was opening and two men were stepping out. One was her father. The other was a taller man dressed in a black PSICOM uniform. He had silver hair with long bangs, a short ponytail, and grayish-blue eyes that made her feel uncomfortable when she looked into them.

Farron was the first one to see his child and his eyes narrowed a bit in her direction; it was a habit that had formed over the past few days. The other man followed Farron's gaze to sofa and his eyebrows perked a bit in surprise. "I didn't realize one of your daughters was home."

"Me neither," Farron returned.

Following her cue from the stern look that her dad was giving her, Lightning rose from her seat. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd be home so early. I can just go upstairs and start some homework."

"No need. I was just on my way out," the silver-haired man stated. However, instead of walking towards the door, he took a couple of steps toward Lightning. "Let me see if I can still get the names correct. You look to be almost eighteen. Claire, is it?"

"Lightning," she quickly corrected out of reflex. On realizing what she just did, her eyes flicked quickly to her father, trying to give him an apologetic look before turning back to the man. "I mean… I'm sorry."

The man chuckled lightly, clearly amused by it all. Farron was the total opposite. "Lightning?"

"It's a nickname that she picked up after her mother passed," Farron informed him, eyes never leaving his daughter. "I thought it was just a childish phase. I didn't expect it to stick."

"Interesting. Well, if she wishes to be called Lightning, who am I to go against it? I take it you don't recognize me."

Lightning's brows slightly scrunched together as she once again looked over the man's hard features. There was something familiar about him, but she just couldn't say from where. "No, sir."

"Yaag Rosch. Your father mentored me when I first joined PSICOM. I would sometimes join your family for dinner."

Lightning's eyes slightly widened in recognition. She did remember him. He was much skinnier with shorter hair back then. If there was one thing, however, that didn't change, it was the amount of creeps that the man had given her. "Oh. Yes, I remember. It's been a while."

"Yes, it has," Rosch replied, with somewhat of a wicked smile. "Once I started making a name for myself in the ranks, I was assigned to Eden to work under the Primarch. Etro has been generous to me."

Lightning couldn't help but be a little impressed and a little skeptical at the same time. "If you work for the Primarch, then what are you doing in Bodhum?"

"Official PSICOM business," Farron cut in. He eyed his daughter as if to ask what in the hell she was thinking.

Lightning's eyes dropped to the floor, and Rosch let out a stiff chuckle. "You can't fight a child's curiosity," he said, turning back to Farron. "Once again, thank you for having me over. It felt like old times."

Farron led Rosch to the door while also stating certain pleasantries about catching up on old times. "Perhaps you should stop by for dinner one night. The girls have become quite the little chefs of the house."

"Thank you. I may take you up on that offer." Rosch stuck out his hand from outside the door and Farron gave it a firm shake. Once the silver haired man turned to leave, Farron closed the door behind him.

Lightning still stood, rooted to the spot where she had held her short conversation with Yaag Rosch. She looked at her father apprehensively before speaking again. "Dad, I really am sorry… I didn't know—"

"You don't have to apologize, Claire."

Lightning's gaze turned from apprehensive to confused. Aside from the little cut-in with Rosch, this was the first time he had directly spoken to her in days. The man's eyes softened on seeing his daughter's shocked reaction to his statement. He approached her and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "We've all had a long few days. I think it's about time you stop apologizing for them."

"Y-yeah," Lightning agreed, still trying to decipher whether or not this meant that she and her father were on good terms again.

"You know, before you came in, me and Yaag actually spoke a little about you."

Lightning didn't speak, but her eyes displayed her curiosity at the statement and she dumbly followed behind her father as he walked into his study. "He mentioned a training program that the Guardian Corps heads. It's for young people who show great potential for becoming future leaders in the force. I know you haven't formally competed in awhile, but with your background in martial arts and your high grades, I think that you could be a strong candidate."

Farron reached for a folder on his desk, then turned and handed it to Lightning. Lightning quietly leafed through it as her father continued. "I don't know if it's still a dream of yours, but I remember when your were just a young child, you always said that you wanted to be in PSICOM like me. This isn't exactly PSICOM, but the Guardian Corps will train you right. And a transfer will be easy if you do well enough. That is, if this is even still your dream—"

"Yes."

The sentence had barely escaped Farron's lips before his daughter had answered. She looked up from the packet to establish eye contact with her father before repeating in a more resolute tone, "Yes. That is still what I would want. I mean, it is still what I want."

Farron seemed a bit taken aback at first by the quickness of the answer, but his gaze on his daughter once again warmed up. "Very well, then." A soft smile formed on his face. "You will probably need to undergo more training before you apply, just to get back in shape."

"That's fine." Lightning could feel her own features brightening on seeing the hint of a smile on her dad's face. "I remember most of the workouts, drills, and practice stuff from when I used to compete. And if you sign a note for me, I'm sure that they'll let me use the gym during my free period at school. Finding someone to spar with would be the only hard part."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll write the note now."

Lightning felt her heart swell and her face grow warm. A hopeful half-smile had crawled on her face from the look that her dad had just given her. It was something undeniable. He was proud.

* * *

"Yo, yo, yo." Fang called smoothly as she walked into the open garage of Sazh's Auto Shop.

Sazh, a middle-aged, dark-skinned man with a big afro and a neatly trimmed goatee, peeked out from around a lifted vehicle and pointed a finger at her. "Just the girl I've been looking for. You didn't happen to see a thrust bearing just lying around here yesterday, did you? Because I swear I had one and it's all of a sudden gone missing."

"A thrust bearing?" Fang asked innocently, scratching her head. "I'm not even sure I know what one of those is. Y'know, they say the memory is the first thing to go with old age."

"Don't know what one is, huh? Well, I figured you would know since you asked me if we had any yesterday. I think of the lot of y'all like you're my own kids. And I sometimes I enjoy your company. Really. Sometimes I do. But that doesn't mean you can run around treating this place like you own everything. Lenora's Garage will end up running me into the ground if you keep this up!"

"Is that why Dane is stuck doing all kinds of cheap labor for you?" Fang asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Oi!" Dane's upper body slid out from beneath a nearby car. His face and clothes were dusty and oil-smeared. "Dane's stuck doing cheap labor for him because it's the only way to pay the bill after SOMEONE ELSE got the car impounded!"

"And there's the man of the hour!" Fang grinned, looking down on her comrade. "All oiled up and sweaty, just the way I like 'im. Grrrrrrrrrrr," Fang rolled her tongue suggestively.

Dane shot Fang a disapproving look before announcing, "I'm going back under," and sliding beneath the car again.

"Yep. That's definitely what Dane said," Fang returned playfully. It was answered by Dane mumbling a Pulsian vulgarity at her from underneath the vehicle.

"This is why Vanille's the only one who gets visiting rights to the house. I might not know what you're saying, but I know it's bad and I don't want Dahj picking it up. And you," Sazh was once again pointing at Fang, "I know exactly what you're saying. That's the scary part."

Fang chuckled and reached over to her side to pick up some bulky, circular contraptions that were pile up near the garage doorway. "What are these?"

"Don't tell her," advised Dane's muffled voice from under the nearby car, but it was too late. Sazh had already opened his mouth to explain.

"Mini-hover pads. Wait… ugh. Put them back on the pile, Fang."

"I was just looking," Fang said defensively, placing the two that she had picked up back down on top of a couple of others. She continued to eye them curiously. "At that size, though, ya think you'd be able to strap them on to a pair of boots and just go whoosh?" She made an outward and upward swiping motion with her hand to drive her point home.

"Well, you'd have to have a lot of strength and coordination to control—Wait. Hey. Don't think about it." Sazh was pointing at Fang again. Fang was pretty sure at this point, if anything horrible ever happened to the man that left his body torn and mangled beyond repair, she would be able to confirm his identity as long as his finger was intact.

"Okay, okay. No touchy. I get it." She raised her hands and took a step away from the pile. "But how much longer do ya think y'all will be working? If I get home first, I'll be stuck on 'find out which trailer Willow is hidden in' duty instead of Dane."

There was an audible snort from under the car. Sazh walked over to his desk in the corner of the garage and looked over a chart. "We should be finished up soon. Dane's a good worker. I know that y'all have your certain skills and strengths among tribes and all… His have anything to do with this type of work."

"I guess you can say they're related," Fang began with a smirk.

"Shut up, Fang," the voice from under the car warned.

Sazh crossed his arms and looked towards Fang expectantly. He knew that she'd continue the story if it had anything to do with grating on the older boy's nerves. And sure enough, she kept on going as if she had never heard Dane at all. "You see those intricately braided bands he has tattooed on his arm?"

"What about them?" Sazh asked, playing along.

"They signify Dane's entrance to manhood by completing and proving himself worthy of the skill most revered by his tribe."

"Fang…."

"Ya see, the mighty Brons of the Yaschas area…"

"Fang, I swear!"

"Are basket weavers." Fang finally announced jollily with a smile that encompassed her entire face.

Sazh chuckled and shook his head while Dane could be heard muttering something unintelligible from under the car. "Ya know," he finally called back, "Basket weaving is a very respectable skill!"

"Oh, yeah. You should see how big of a hit he is with the ladies back on the res," Fang said, looking over to Sazh with an excited look in her eyes.

"Oh, yeah?" Sazh asked with an amused smile.

"Yes, indeedy. He's good with his hands."

A loud clanking sound immediately echoed from under the car, followed by silence. "Oww."

Fang leaned back against the wall and grinned. She eyed the hover pads one last time while Sazh broke out into a fit of laughter at Dane's expense.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I'm no real expert on pole vaulting so y'all probably shouldn't take anything said in that part about technique or breaking of poles and stuff too seriously... **


	8. Chapter 8

Lightning used the back of her hand to wipe away the beads of sweat that threatened to roll down her forehead and into her eyes. The weather had been abnormally hot all day, a record high for this time of year. It was actually kind of weird because they usually always had very controlled weather. A teacher in one of her earlier periods tried explaining the phenomenon to them in class. Apparently if there was a big irregularity on Pulse, Cocoon could be affected as well, even with the all the technology for weather control, since they both shared the same atmosphere.

But of course, even though it was scalding hot outside, her PE teacher had forced her class to leave the air-conditioned gymnasium in favor of sending them to the school's undersized baseball diamond out back to play kickball.

"Whooo! Goooooo Lightning!"

Lightning attempted to spread a pleasant smile across her face on hearing the voice that plagued her during most of her waking hours. For some naïve reason, she thought she'd be able to find some relief from the ever-present Alyssa Zaidelle during class time, especially since they didn't have a single class together.

She thought wrong.

While they didn't actually take any classes together, they did both take their physical education and arts credits at the same time. Lightning took PE while Alyssa worked on yearbook. This basically meant that the class president had the time and means to stalk Lightning while she was in gym. Lightning sighed at the thought and turned to give Alyssa, who was sitting in the bleachers near the area where a few cheerleaders were stretching, a little wave. "Serah better make the fucking team and cherish it," the pinkette grumbled to herself.

Out the corner of her eye, Lightning caught sight of something bright orange moving in the direction of the gymnasium. She slightly turned her head away from Alyssa to get a better look at the fluorescent object making its way along the side of the field: a cooler. However, now that she was looking in that direction, it wasn't actually the cooler that was garnering as much of Lightning's attention as the tanned girl who was carrying it.

If there were any clouds in the sky blocking the sun, they must have all faded away at that moment because Lightning felt her face and chest grow extremely warm as the heat beat down on her more immensely.

Lightning had first noticed Fang and the rest of the track team not too long after her class had come outside. They had been walking back and forth along the field and to and from the gym, packing equipment into a van parked behind the baseball diamond. She guessed that they had some sort of meet or something that they were preparing for. At that time, Fang had been donned in the track team's warm-up sweats. However, lugging all that equipment around in the heat must've made the girl uncomfortable because now she was simply walking around in a tight, and quite revealing, spandex uniform.

The drastic change of clothing definitely caught Lightning off guard. She knew that the Pulsian was fit, but actually seeing so much of her body exposed at one time made 'fit' seem like an understatement. Almost everything (because the uniform didn't do a good job at hiding her shape at all) on the girl seemed to be perfectly sculpted. From her slender neck, to those toned arms, and even down her slightly curved back to her—whoa. Lightning quickly averted her eyes as if she had witnessed something illegal.

However, as much as she willed herself to stop looking and pay more attention to the game, Lightning's gaze kept wandering back to Fang's direction. When she realized that she was staring again, she quickly snapped her head forward. Why did the cooler have to be such a distracting color? She slowly turned her head a bit more to glance in the cooler's direction one last time. If the cooler had initially caught her attention, it was now Tammy, a girl with short brown hair who was chatting next to Fang, who kept it.

The clouds must have dissipated again because Lightning could feel the temperature in her face and chest slowly rise again as she watched the two. Tammy walked casually alongside Fang with a smile on her face as Fang continued to tote the cooler. When they reached the van, Fang placed the cooler inside and sat on the trunk's edge, patting the space next to her for Tammy to join. The Pulsian smiled and said something that had Tammy laughing as she took the offered seat.

Lightning watched them through narrowed eyes. Tammy had come to class with a doctor's note excusing her from gym today, so instead of toiling away in the hot sun like the rest of them, she was sitting around socializing with Fang. Nothing looked wrong with her. What made her so unfit that she couldn't just run around a few bases today? The note probably wasn't even real. It was all probably just a rouse… The pinkette's jaw tightened as she continued to stew over how unfair it was that Tammy was getting over the system. Finally, she let out an annoyed huff and turned around to once again face forward. All the while, Alyssa watched Lightning's actions curiously through squinted eyes from her seat in the bleachers.

"So, Lyss." Alyssa broke away from staring at Lightning to raise her brows at one of the cheerleaders who had paused from her stretches to call for the other girl's attention. "What is the deal with you and Lightning, anyway? I thought you said you didn't like her."

"I don't," Alyssa replied bluntly, once again glancing back and forth between Lightning and Fang. "But in order to stay on top of the social hierarchy, I have to be friends with her. At least until I find a way to knock her back down to where she belongs."

The cheerleader took a quick peek at Lightning from over her shoulder. "I don't know… She's gotten pretty popular and it doesn't look like she knocks around easy. How do you plan on going through with that?"

"I don't have anything definite now, but let's just say I have a bit of an idea." Alyssa's eyes settled on Fang, who was now handing Tammy her cell phone with a playful smirk on her face.

"Well, looky who's up next! Farron!"

Lightning clenched her jaw even tighter as she looked towards the mound. Gadot was leaning forward, holding the ball behind his back with one hand. A wide grin was plastered across his face. Lightning took a couple steps forward so that she was only standing a few paces behind home plate.

On her last turn, she had kicked a pop fly that had immediately gotten her and another one of her teammates out. From the jeering, you could've sworn that Gadot had pitched a no-hitter at the World Series.

"Yayyyyyy! Lightning!" Alyssa screamed from the bleachers.

From her spot on the back of the van, Fang looked up from her conversation with Tammy to observe the action on the field with slight interest.

"So Farron," Gadot asked, now softly tossing the ball up and down in one hand, "Do we really need to go through all the work or should we just switch positions now?"

"Just roll the ball," Lightning growled.

"Are you sure—"

"GADOT! It feels like hell's anus out here! Just hurry up and roll the goddamn ball!" Lebreau shouted from far left field.

"Lebreau! Language!" the gym teacher, who was seated in the shade of the dugout yelled. "And Gadot, she's right! After the fourth inning, we're heading in. So hurry up and roll the goddamn ball!"

"Alright, alright… sheesh," Gadot grumbled as he bent over and shoved the ball forward.

It was a terrible roll. It was approaching home plate at a high speed, but the thing was bouncing like crazy and spent just as much time off the ground as it did on. Lightning ran a couple of steps forward from her place behind the plate before thrusting out her foot and connecting with the ball while it was in a weird mid-bounce position.

A loud POING sounded as foot collided with ball. The sphere shot forward at an alarming speed, flying horizontally about three feet off the ground, like a bullet. If Lightning had been paying any attention at all to what was happening on the field, she would've noticed the two infielders who jumped out the way to avoid getting hit by the projectile. But all she really cared about right now was running the bases and shutting Gadot the hell up.

She had just about gotten to second base when the ball started to make its journey back to the mound. "Nuh uh!" Gadot called, running to the direction of home plate. He didn't want his team to simply stop the play by giving it to him on the mound. He wanted to get her out. Himself. "Pass it to me!"

Lightning could hear nothing but cheering as she rounded second and quickly made her way to third. When she hit the third base, she could see the ball soaring in her direction through her peripherals. She rounded the plate and a scowled when she saw Gadot standing at home, his eyes in the air waiting for the ball to come his way. Her teammates were now yelling for her to turn around and go back, but it was far too late for that now.

As she ran, she could feel a slight build-up forming in her chest and the wind seemed to be picking up around her. Hell, at this point it felt as if she was damn near being propelled by the wind. With every swing of her arms as she ran, she could feel another powerful gust form at her side.

"Hurry up! Here! Here!" Gadot called, waving his arms and jumping at home plate.

She could now make out the ball soaring over her head to home. She could still make it! No, she would make it! Her scowl deepened and a hand slid forward to block her eyes as her body leaned back and she slid towards Gadot and the plate. The wind crazily whirled about her for only a moment, simultaneously driving her forwards while pushing upwards at her back as it neared the ground, before gathering and lashing outwards toward home plate.

Meanwhile, Gadot reached up to snatch the ball out of the air and smiled victoriously as he brought it down. He glanced up at the approaching runner and his smile immediately disappeared. All he could see was a huge cloud of swirling dust coming his way. "What the—" he didn't even have time to finish his exclamation before he was knocked back by a powerful gust of wind and engulfed in the cloud.

The whole class stood around in shock and confusion as the ball bounced out of the dust cloud that lingered around home plate, successfully hiding the two students that had been caught in it. "Safe!" the gym teacher yelled, not really caring for the weird weather anomaly that had just occurred in the middle of his field.

Back near the track van, Fang slowly stood up with widened eyes, staring in the direction of the baseball diamond. She had faded out of the conversation with Tammy the moment she had seen the wind dancing around Lightning's body with each swing of her arm, as if she were orchestrating it. It wasn't until she saw the powerful blast of wind that had been thrown in Gadot's direction that she had snapped back into her senses. "Excuse me," she said in a low voice, not even bothering to look in Tammy's direction, "I'll be right back." With that, she took off into a cautious jog towards the diamond.

Back on the field, Lightning could see nothing but dust. She could taste nothing but dust. And all she could hear was her and Gadot's coughing. Her body felt more relaxed, as if she had released some sort of pent up energy… Had she? She remembered feeling the wind at her back and sides. She hadn't thought of it much as it was happening, too caught up in the moment of the game, but now she remembered how her every movement seemed to control the flow of the wind... And how badly she had wanted the wind to carry her to home plate and knock Gadot off his high horse.

Before she could think any further on what had happened, she felt a hand roughly grab her elbow and pull her to her feet. Next thing she knew, she was jogging away from the diamond and back towards the direction of the gym. Her vision was still fuzzy from the dust, but she could slightly make out the dark, messy head of hair that was leading the way with a heavy grip still around her arm. Fang?

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" she could hear her gym teacher shouting from behind, but it didn't slow Fang down at all.

Once again, Alyssa eyed the two girls as they ran around the corner of the gym to a spot where the people on the field couldn't see them. She tapped her chin thoughtfully as one of the cheerleaders stared at the area on the field where dust was still clearing out. "I wonder what that was about."

"What in the bloody hell was that about?" a similar question was hissed at Lightning as Fang rounded on her from their spot behind the gym.

"Wha—"

"I thought you said no weird-goings-ons! Let me guess? You were always able to summon Mother Nature to your every beck and call?"

"What are you talking about?" Lightning rubbed at her eyes. She was having trouble understanding and she couldn't fully concentrate with all the dust still irking her.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about you throwing tornado bombs at Gadot! And then ya let me stand there the other day and blubber like a fool when I asked ya about it? Is it because ya think all the slapping didn't make me feel crap enough?"

"Wait…" Lightning stopped rubbing at her face and looked toward Fang with wide and confused eyes. "I-That really was me? You know how I did that?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Fang froze. This wasn't the usually stalwart girl that she sometimes bugged in passing. Her whole demeanor had changed. She looked… frightened. And more than anything else, confused. Fang groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "Shit... You don't know." Fang started pacing back and forth a few steps, racking her mind for the right words to continue the conversation with.

"Don't know what? What's going on?" Lightning asked, her eyes following Fang as she paced and her speech becoming more frantic.

Fang paused from her pacing to give Lightning an apologetic look before averting eye contact and focusing on her own shoulder. "How bout we start from here." She reached up and pulled down at a black, nylon sleeve that covered her upper arm where her bandage used to be. Lightning winced on seeing two big cuts across her skin that still looked as if they were in the healing process. More interestingly though, between the scars was a marking. The same marking shared between her, Snow, and Hope. "Do you have one of these?" Fang asked, eyes intently trying to gauge Lightning's face for reactions.

"The police brand?"

"Police brand?" Fang's brows ruffled at the words. "Who told you it was a police brand? What even is a police brand?" She could feel her body tensing a bit on wondering if it was something that Colonel Farron had told her.

"Snow called it that. Said something about it being a way to mark us as fugitives if we ran away." Lightning's eyes were glued to the mark.

"Heh. So big guy is marked too… sounds like an explanation he'd come up with." Fang had softly chuckled her words, but the feeling behind them still sounded empty. "But no, it's not a police brand. Although, it's a vaguely similar concept. Do ya remember the script Vanille read at the Vestige? About the Gran Pulse fal'Cie?"

"The bed time story?" Lightning asked, finally tearing her vision away from the mark on Fang's arm to look her in the eyes.

"Uh, yeah…" Fang nervously rubbed at the back of her neck. "So the thing is, it wasn't actually a fictional story. And it's kinda what happened to us at the Vestige. Me and Vanille think that the thing we ran in to there was a Gran Pulse fal'Cie, and during the scuffle it branded us all as its l'Cie. So now it looks like all of us kinda have special l'Cie powers."

"What?" Memories of the struggle against that thing in the Vestige started surging back to the forefront of Lightning's mind. That couldn't be possible. There weren't even any Cocoon fal'Cie left, so the idea that there was a Pulse fal'Cie hiding out in the back room of a building on Cocoon seemed ridiculous! But the being was like nothing she had ever seen before and it had so much power… "So what you're saying is," Lightning began, her words taking lives of their own and her mind not wanting to wrap itself around any of this at all, "is that we were attacked and basically enslaved by a Pulse fal'Cie?"

"It's probably more like indentured servitude." Lightning shot Fang a nasty look, which made the taller girl recoil. "Uh… never mind."

Lightning placed a hand to her head and began pacing herself. She was starting to feel dizzy and her heart was beating so quickly that she thought it would burst out of her chest at any second. "That can't be true. This can't be real. Didn't the end of the story end with monsters or something? This doesn't even make sense! How am I supposed to explain having, having powers to my dad? Shit! My dad! We can tell my dad! He'd know some way to figure this out."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Fang's eyebrows skyrocketed and she reached out to grab Lightning by the shoulders in an attempt to settle her down. "No! Bad idea! HORRIBLE idea! Worst possible idea!"

"And you have a better one?!" Lightning smacked Fang's hands away from her. "You're the one who started all of this! My dad works with the military! He knows doctors and scientists and has connects! He can figure out a way to help us!"

"No, your dad works with the military! He has guns, and knows people who have guns, and the ones who don't have guns have test tubes and needles and probes and other shit that they stick up people's asses that are probably scarier than the guns!"

Lightning eyed Fang derisively and shook her head. "I'm his daughter! You think he'd let me become some type of lab rat before trying to help me? Well, you're wrong. And I'm going to prove it; I'm telling my father." Lightning spun around to leave. Her cell phone was tucked away in the locker room. If she went to it now, she'd be able to call her dad before anyone else could return to the gymnasium and overhear the conversation.

"Wait! Just slow down." Fang's hand gripped Lightning's arm a little bit above her wrist. Lightning made a move to yank it away, but couldn't. She physically couldn't. The place on her arm where Fang was grabbing her felt tingly and her limbs immediately grew heavy. Her eyes felt heavy as well and her heart had stopped its assault on her chest, which was now taking in slow, deep breaths. She tried to move her head. Turn her body. Even roll her eyes back in Fang's direction, but the movements felt strained and took too much effort. It felt as if her whole body were operating in slow motion, so she just continued to stand with her eyes looking forward, taking in those long, steady breaths.

"You're his daughter," Fang's voice slowly dragged through the air, her accent sounded more pronounced than it ever had to Lightning before. "But think about it. You've been marked by a Gran Pulse fal'Cie, who are apparently known for creating super soldiers to fight against Cocoon. That officially makes all of us enemies of Cocoon. This goes way past all of his connections."

Fang eyed Lightning's face earnestly as she finished her last sentence. There was no malice or chastising tone to her voice. On the contrary, the girl had never spoken to Lightning so delicately. She released her grip around Lightning's arm and the Cocoonian immediately felt her breathing start to pick up to a normal pace. "Look," Fang had already started to continue to pick up where she had left off, "You may have some big guardian angel on your side, but me and Vanille have no one. If the wrong person finds out about this, we're screwed. And not just us. Everyone on the reservation. Your dad's a big shot and all, but there are bigger and badder fish in the sea who might do the same to y'all too..."

Lightning still had yet to say a word, which made Fang feel uneasy. She wanted to know what the pinkette was thinking, how she was really taking this. She let out a soft sigh and looked at the ground before continuing her spiel, hoping that something would strike a chord within the other girl. "I know I've been doing a horribly crap job at it, but a long time ago, I made a vow that I'd protect my family. And I swear to all the gods, I'd tear down the sky and this bloody world with it if that means keeping Vanille safe. The more people who know about us, the harder it's gonna be protectin' her or anyone around us. Isn't there something you feel you need to protect too?"

Lightning let out a deep breath. There was. Serah. Although there was that nagging feeling in the back of her head that she should still tell her dad everything, there were parts of Fang's speech that did make sense for the opposing argument. She had seen firsthand how viciously the law treated Pulsians. What would they do if they found out that there was a group of Pulse 'super soldiers' running around? Her dad could try to protect them, but how far would that go? If he was caught, he'd certainly be punished for treason, and where would that leave Serah? "Okay," she finally relented. "I can't say that I totally agree with this… but I won't tell him."

A grateful light lit up in Fang's eyes at the words. "But," Lightning said, looking to Fang expectantly, "you do have some plan to fix this, right?"

"Me and Van have already started looking into it. Ya see, when we first got branded, everyone should've gotten a focus. We're pretty sure that solving that puzzle is the key to getting us outta this whole mess."

"That's the grand plan?" Lightning asked, her voice dripping with skepticism.

Fang shrugged apologetically. "It's the only plan we've got so far."

Lightning groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. Her resolve on not telling her father was starting to wear off already. Fang must've sensed that as well because she once again put her hands on Lightning's shoulders to try and settle down her before calmly looking her in the eye. "Hey. I know I haven't really given ya much to work with so far, but I need… I just need ya to trust me on this, yeah? And if we try my plan and it doesn't seem to be working out, then I promise that we can go to your dad without a fuss. Okay?"

Lightning nodded. Although she was still on edge, she did feel a bit more at peace with the situation at the moment. "Yeah. Okay."

Fang lightly smiled, although the expression looked pained. She opened her mouth to say something else but was immediately cut off by a loud yell from somewhere else outside.

"LIGHTNING!"

"Shit. Either we're switching to outfield or my turn must be coming up again," Lightning grumbled. "I should probably get back before I somehow manage to flunk PE."

"Heh. Yeah, that'd be the real tragedy in all of this…" Fang chuckled, looking off in the direction where the PE teacher's voice had sounded. "But we should meet up sometime soon. All of us. We need to get a game plan rolling on how to handle this."

"Okay. When?"

"Has to be soon." Fang pulled her nylon sleeve back over her arm and rubbed it as she thought. "How bout after school tomorrow. I'll be free after track practice, and the bleachers next to the football field would be a perfect place to meet. Or are you still too punished?"

"I could get away." Unless her father came home early again, which was unlikely to happen so soon, she was sure that she could stay that late unnoticed. It'd give her more training time in the gym anyway.

"Good. I'll let blondie know, and you can spread the word to little man."

Lightning nodded in confirmation and turned to go.

"Oh, and Lightless?"

Lightning paused for a moment to look back over her shoulder at Fang. "Hm?"

"I know it's hard, but please. At least put a lil' effort in trying not to accidentally kill Gadot."

Lightning made a soft chortling sound. "I'll see what I can do. I've had enough years of practice at it."


	9. Chapter 9

Fang laid stretched out across a few rows of bleachers, her elbows reaching back behind her to prop her upper body up and her legs stretching down to cross at the ankles on one of the bleachers further down. Two rows down and to her right, Snow straddled one bleacher while Hope and Lightning sat upright, only one row apart from each other, a few feet across from him.

"…and that is the story for all those who didn't remember." Vanille came to a stop on one of the rows in the middle of the odd circle of bodies that the other four had created. She had been walking and weaving between them, repeating the story of the fal'Cie and l'Cie that she had read aloud in the Vestige.

Fang watched her with a light smirk. "Was everyone taking notes?" Her eyes rolling over everyone else's faces.

"So we all have super powers?" Snow asked. He lifted his hands to his face and slowly turned them, watching them in awe.

"If ya wanna look at it that way, then yeah. You haven't used any yet?" Fang quirked a slender eyebrow. Of the entire group, she would've pegged Snow as the one to accidentally going overboard with everything.

"Well, kinda. I knew something was up when I was playing a pick-up game at the rec center the other day. Went in to slam dunk and broke the backboard."

"Ahh, so you got a bit of the strength boost, too, eh? Figures. You look the type," Fang said.

"Oh." Snow grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I was more surprised because I've never jumped that high before."

A couple of the teens snickered softly at the confession. Lightning ignored them and focused back on Vanille. Despite how bright and bubbly she talked and how she pretty much skipped around their section of the bleachers as she retold the story, she currently seemed more serious about the matter than Fang. "So Fang said that you two were looking into a way to fix all of this. Did you come up with something?"

"I guess you can say that," Vanille said. She walked over to her bag, which had been sitting next to Fang, and pulled out a small book. "Before we were branded, I managed to get a pretty good sketch of the fal'Cie. At least in its dormant state."

Lightning carefully studied the small book from where she was sitting. "Is that the same journal you had with you on the field trip? PSICOM didn't take it away when you were brought in?" In her mind, Lightning could vividly recall how scantily clad Vanille had been when they visited the Vestige. At the time, she could barely believe that the girl could've carried it around unnoticed, but for it to have been hidden so well that even PSICOM couldn't find and confiscate it? Her eyes narrowed in Vanille's direction. "Where were you holding that thi—"

"Lightmare!" Fang cut in. "Important issues! Stay focused! As you were saying, Van?"

Vanille's gaze quickly flitted from Fang to Lightning before she just shrugged them both off and happily continued as if nothing had happened. "So yeah. I was able to get a sketch of the fal'Cie in its dormant state." She opened the journal to the page of the sketch and handed it to Snow to look at before passing around.

"Fang then gave the sketch to Maqui, who did a search of it on the net and in some different library and information databases."

Hope reached up to pass the journal to Lightning. The girl hesitated for a moment, not really knowing where the book had been, before reluctantly biting the bullet and taking the journal in her hands to study the picture. She hadn't expected it, but Vanille was actually quite the artist. The sketch was almost identical to what they had seen in the back room of the Vestige. Lightning could feel a cold chill run up her spine just looking at it.

"And he was able to find a few matches on it that connected us to our grand perpetrator, the fal'Cie Anima!" Vanille extended her arm with a finger pointed outward as if she were leading a charge into battle as she finished her last exclamation.

"Anima…" Lightning softly repeated, giving the picture in the journal one last look before passing it up to Fang.

"Yea. From the research, turns out he comes from me and Van's neck of the woods." Fang moved her rear around in order to settle further in her laid out position. "He used to set up shop in our village, Oerba, just picking out folk and turning them into l'Cie like it was a people buffet. Some of the l'Cie got tired of it, and decided they'd face whatever fate lay ahead of 'em head on as long as their loved ones were safe. They went and turned on the fal'Cie. Made their own l'Cie army and drove him out the village. Happened not too long before the big Transgression Truce, too."

"Face whatever fate lay ahead of them?" Hope spoke for the first time since he had taken a seat in the bleachers with them. "What fate? The walking monsters among men? Or the deep crystal slumber?"

"Well… We don't know actually know," Vanille confessed. "We weren't able to find much documentation on the actual fate of the l'Cie, so we don't know how truthful any of it is."

"Everything else has seemed true enough so far," Lightning said in a gruff voice. "It could all just be a scare tactic to strong arm people into doing the fal'Cie's will, but then again it could just be another ridiculous truth. Were you able to find anything else on Anima?"

"No." Vanille shook her head a bit dejectedly. "But we are still trying to gather as much as we can. We've been asking a few of the elders on the reservation, but they don't seem to want to talk about it much. They say there's no reason to dwell on such a painful part of our history anymore."

"I was able to find out a bit more on branding by giving one of our elders a pedicure," Fang announced.

"You give pedicures?" Snow laughed, leaning forward on the bleacher.

"Well, it's not that much information. She stopped talking to me once she looked down and saw what I was doing to her feet." Fang grinned. "But turns out, the brand kinda acts as a timer. It pretty much lets ya know how long until the fal'Cie gets pissed at ya or something for not finishing your focus. She said that at first your brand starts to get more arrows. Then, it turns red and forms an eye. Once that eye opens… that's when shit gets real. Nobody's brand has started changing yet, huh?"

Snow lifted up the sleeve of his jacket while Hope pulled down at one of his gloves in order to take a look at their brands. Fang pulled down her nylon sleeve to peek at hers before sliding it up again.

"Fang?"

Fang looked to Vanille and nodded. She sat up from her leaning position on the bleachers and reached over to lift up the corner of Vanille's skirt.

"Whoa!"

"Ayee…"

Snow's head quickly shot up towards the sky while Hope's eyes darted downwards to look at his feet, his whole face turning a deep crimson red. Lightning sucked her teeth at the how the two boys reacted, although she didn't approve of the way Fang had checked Vanille's brand either. The evident scowl on her face was proof enough of that. Her hand rose over her breast where she herself had been branded.

"Yer good," Fang announced, lowering Vanille's skirt.

Before lying back down across the bleachers, Fang turned to face Lightning. "What about yours? You check it?"

"I'll check it later," Lightning answered, her voice coming out a bit harsher than she had intended.

One of Fang's eyebrows slightly quirked in reaction to Lightning's tone, but she quickly pushed it aside. "Well, we're all right here now. Better to make sure things aren't progressing too quickly for anyone. Kinda shapes our whole game plan, ya know." Fang turned her body around on the bleacher so that she was straddling it just like Snow was straddling his.

"If no one else's has changed, I'm sure mine hasn't either. If it has, I'll let you know." The words were practically being pushed through gritted teeth now.

"C'mon, neighbor, it'll only take a sec," Snow encouraged.

Lightning sent him one of his own personalized death glares as Fang curiously scratched her head. "Where is your brand, anyway?" she asked.

Lightning stiffened. It was a cue that Fang immediately picked up on and it took her less than a second afterwards to notice where the Cocoonian's hand was placed on her body. Lightning let her hand drop into her lap and chanced a look in Fang's direction, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Of course she had.

A small yet devious, close-lipped smile was slowly widening across Fang's face. _No way._

Lightning could feel her brow forming a deep crease as her eyes narrowed dangerously on the Pulsian. _Shut up._

"If ya want, you can turn your back to the guys and I can just check it for ya." Fang was using all of her will power trying to keep her tone serious, but she knew she wasn't doing too great a job.

"No," Lightning growled.

"Aww, c'mon. Don't be shy," Fang goaded, scooting closer towards Lightning on her bleacher. "Vanille didn't—"

"I SAID NO!" Lightning exploded, causing Fang to jump backwards a bit.

"Alright, alright. You can just check later." Fang put her hands up defensively, and scooted back away from the girl.

"Ohhh-kayyy," Vanille looked between Fang and Lightning, testing the waters to see if it was safe to continue, "Well, since it's already been over a week and there doesn't seem to be any progression on anyone's brand, it seems as if we've been given a healthy amount of time to figure things out. I vote that our first priority should be trying to determine what our powers are and learning how to control them."

"Objection." Fang raised a finger to the air. "There isn't really a rulebook to this stuff, Van. So our brands didn't progress this week. Big whoop. What if tomorrow they pull a full monty? Figuring out this focus should be our main priority, and we're already at a disadvantage because the biggest personal clue we have on this fal'Cie so far is that he's a bit of a lecher."

"Hey!" Lightning shot.

"Too soon?"

"Fang." Vanille commanded the attention back in her direction. "You said yourself that you almost hurt yourself when you lost control of your power. And both Lightning and Snow were in very public places when they lost control. If we don't get a handle on these abilities, we're bound to either get injured or caught."

"But if we don't finish our focuses, we may be bound to become monsters, Vanille." Fang leaned forward in Vanille's direction. Her voice had grown a low and threatening.

"And we can't finish our focus if we're locked away in a PSICOM prison cell either, Fang." Vanille took a step forward with balled up fists. She looked much more adorable than threatening, but they had to at least give her points for the effort.

"I kinda agree with Vanille," Snow said, raising a hand. "Maybe once we get a handle on things, we can even use them to figure the focus out. Cause right now, I'm just scared that I'll accidentally do something crazy at a bad time."

"See?" Vanille said, thrusting an arm out in Snow's direction.

"Well, we can't totally put our focuses on hold for this! We should at least try and figure out what the damned things are!" Fang threw her arms up in exasperation.

"You said that the focus was given to us in a vision when we were branded, right?" Hope spoke up again from his part of the circle. "I remember mine pretty clearly. Or kind of clearly. It's all jumbled up in my head. I have dreams about it at night."

Lightning's head swung in Hope's direction. He was looking down at his lap and twiddling his fingers nervously. It made sense why those dreams she had been having seemed so familiar. They were the same visions she had had in the Vestige.

"Okay. Would you mind sharing them with us, Hope?" Vanille asked in a sweet voice, taking a few steps closer to the boy.

"Yeah. Sure. Uh… I remember there being loud screaming. And a lot of snow, like there was a blizzard going on. Then—"

"Lightning," Lightning cut in ironically. Hope's eyes jumped up to meet hers, shocked that she knew what was coming next. "It sounds like the same vision I had," she said calmly, answering Hope's unasked question. "Screaming, a blizzard, lightning, gunshots… some gigantic monster with a big pronged tail."

"Whoa, same here," Snow added in.

Vanille rubbed her chin and her eyebrows scrunched together as she looked down in a thinking position. "Well, we were all branded at the same time, so if Anima really wanted to make sure that a certain job got done, it makes sense that he'd choose more than one l'Cie to do it. If nothing else, it'll make it easier for us."

"For what? So we can finish it and turn into crystal?" Hope asked, his voice shaky.

"We don't know what any of it means yet," Vanille replied in a soothing voice. "Once we figure out the focus, then hopefully we can find a way around it."

"When we finally get around to trying to figure it out," Fang mumbled, leaning back against the bleachers again.

Lightning shot her a quick, angry glare for her insensitivity before looking back to Hope and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She's right. We'll figure this out, but we've got to take it one step at a time."

"Okay…" Hope nodded. His voice still sounded solemn, but who could really blame him.

"Soooo," Snow began, trying to cut through the gloomy cloud that had descended on the group, "We were talking about giving our powers a test run. Where can we do that without being seen?"

"Fang and I have been practicing on little things around the reservation. We would invite y'all to visit, but if too many Cocoonians showed up, it'd probably raise a bunch of… suspicion."

"I don't know of many secret hideouts or anything," Hope admitted. "And my dad has security cameras hidden all around our estate, so I can't even sneak you guys into the backyard."

"My aunt and uncle are always home trying to do the better living thing where they plant gardens and make specialized dinners and cupcakes," Snow said. Fang looked towards him and scrunched her eyebrows. He shrugged in return. "Old, bored, and rich. But Lightning, you have a pretty big yard. And you can't really see into it with that industrial gate you guys built a few years ago. Why don't we go to your place?"

Lightning turned to Snow and didn't verbally respond. She just eyed him curiously, as if expecting him to answer his own question.

"Oh, c'mon! Serah will be at the cheerleading retreat and your dad doesn't even come home until late. Your place is perfect!"

Lightning's expression flattened a bit. She didn't like the fact that Snow knew so much of her family's schedule. "We really can't find another place to do this?"

"The idea is to hit the ground running," Fang answered. "We can use your place tomorrow, and by the day after, we should have found a replacement."

Lightning thought about it for a moment before relenting. If everything they had talked about was true, then time really was of the essence and every day counted. "Okay."

She told Fang her address and eyed the Pulsian warily as the girl grinned at her the entire time. "You're not going to write this down?" she asked.

"No need," Fang said, tapping her head. "It's all up here. But if ya want, you could write down your phone number instead. I could call ya tonight and we could talk… logistics." Fang quickly lifted her eyebrows up and down in two quick, suggestive motions.

Lightning gave Fang a listless look before turning to Vanille. "I'll see you tomorrow, Vanille."

"Bye, Lightning!" Vanille responded with a jolly smile and a wave.

Fang continued to grin as the girl slung her book bag over her shoulder and followed Snow and Hope into the aisle. Vanille settled down to lie across the bleachers next to Fang. Fang's grin slowly faded as the other three l'Cie moved further and further away. Once they had disappeared she let out a deep breath and looked up towards the sky, leaning her head back so that it was totally lying on the seat behind her. "So can we agree that the focus thing might be a bit of a big deal, now?" she asked after a silent moment, turning her head to face Vanille.

Vanille looked back at her with an unsure expression. "It does raise a bit of a red flag," she confessed. "I was expecting everyone's focus to be the same. I just don't understand… Why did we get a different one?"


	10. Chapter 10

"Is it me, or do all these houses look the same?" Fang asked, scratching the back of her head. She had parked the car randomly in front of one of the houses that lined the circular court, and she and Vanille now strolled down the sidewalk eyeing each huge manor.

"You probably should've written down the address," Vanille said, staring up to gawk at one particular house that resembled a castle from a book she had once read.

"Yeah, yeah…" Fang mumbled. She slowed her steps to a halt and lightly touched Vanille's arm, looking up towards the sky. "Do you hear that?"

Vanille stopped as well and tilted her head so that her ear stuck upwards in the air. "Sounds like music."

"Yep." Fang grinned. "And not just any music. It's that shitty poptronic stuff they play on the radio all the time. My guess is it's gotta be from someone our age." Fang began taking long strides down the sidewalk, following her ears to the source of the sounds.

"I don't know, Fang. Lightning doesn't seem like the type of person to listen to that kind of stuff," Vanille said, skipping to catch up to her best friend.

"Well, if it ain't her, then it's probably someone who can at least point us in the right direction." Fang stopped and pointed to a huge, white brick house. "Sounds like it's coming from behind this one."

It was undeniable that the music was blaring from the house's backyard. Jutting from the side of the home, and seemingly enclosing the entire yard hidden behind said home, was a tall, black gate with wide bars. Luckily for them, the entrance to the gate just so happened to be unlocked and slightly ajar. Vanille scanned over the unlatched gate hesitantly. "Fang, Snow said that Lightning had a fence that you couldn't see through… This definitely isn't her house."

Fang paused at the entrance to turn and give Vanille an impatient look. "We've gotta ask somebody where she lives, and I'm not callin' Snow. He'll just tell Lightning we're lost, and there'll be no bloody living with her after that."

"But this doesn't look like the type of neighborhood that'd take kindly to the two of us just waltzing in their yard! This is how most scary movies and cop shows begin!" Vanille argued.

"Don't forget pornos," Fang added with a wink.

"Faaaaaang…" Vanille whined, but Fang had already slipped in through the entrance of the gate and was heading to the back of the yard. Vanille gave an exasperated sigh and took off to catch up with her.

The music grew louder as the two walked along the side of the house and further into the yard until they reached the back. Fang's attention first shot over to a table near the back door of the house where a black boom box blasted the music. She then turned and shielded her eyes to block the glare coming from the huge pool in the middle of the yard. A young woman wearing a pink bikini and a big pair of sunglasses lazily floated around the center of the pool on an inflated mattress. Fang could feel her hopes and dreams slowly start to fizzle, like someone pissing on a small fire, as she slowly began to recognize who the blonde-haired, thin-nosed girl was. "Shit," she mumbled as Vanille stepped up beside her. "Beginning of most horror movies, you said?"

The young woman lounging in the pool lifted her head from her flotation device and pulled her shades down her nose. "Oh. Em. Gee. What are YOU doing here? You're not the new cook that mommy hired, are you?"

"I should be on my knees thanking Lady Luck right now that I'm not, Alysse," Fang replied smartly, putting her hands on her hips.

"Alyssa," the girl corrected, laying her head back down and pushing her sunglasses back up. "And if you're not here to cook or clean, can you do me a favor and get out of my yard so I don't have to get up to call the GC? Appreciate it, hon."

"Gladly. But first, would you be able to tell me which house is the Farrons'? I kinda forgot the address…" Fang rubbed the back of her neck as she asked the question. It was bad enough that she had strutted straight into this girl's backyard, of all people, but it was even more embarrassing that she had to ask a favor while she was there.

"The Farrons' house?" Alyssa's head popped up once again. "Why are you going to Lightning's house?"

"Is it really any of your business?" Fang asked, crossing her arms and wagging her head tauntingly as she said it.

"Do you really want to know where she lives?" Alyssa returned in the same manner, mocking her.

Fang growled and glared across the pool at the other girl. "We're supposed to hang out today."

"Oh, reall—"

"You're not invited."

Alyssa glowered at the Pulsian for a brief moment before once again lying her head back down. "She lives two houses over."

Fang turned her head to look both ways through the gate surrounding the yard she stood in. "In which direction?"

"I don't know. You're a smart girl. Or well, there are only two choices. You're bound to figure it out some time before the day ends."

Fang mumbled a Pulsian swear word at the girl before looking at Vanille and nodding her head back towards the direction they came from.

"Tell Lightning I said hi!" Alyssa called after them as they left.

"Not likely!" Fang sang back as she and Vanille continued to make their way off of her property.

It didn't take much longer to find Lightning's house afterwards. Of the houses that were two to three doors down from Alyssa's, only one had a heavy-duty fence that looked like it'd be a total bitch to scale. Vanille led the way up the path on the front lawn and hopped up the steps to ring the doorbell. As if she had been standing behind the it waiting for them the whole time, the door immediately flung open to reveal a slightly peeved Lightning. "You're late."

"We were trying to be fashionable," Fang stated.

"And Fang couldn't find the house," Vanille quickly blurted before hurrying through the door past Lightning.

Fang bored angry holes into the back of Vanille's head as she ran in to hug Snow and Hope. Meanwhile, Lightning leaned against the door and hiked an amused eyebrow in Fang's direction. "Couldn't find the house, huh? I thought it was all up here." She tapped the side of her head in the same manner that Fang had done yesterday.

"Coulda' been avoided if you'da just given me your number," Fang replied smoothly with a light smile.

"Surreeee." Lightning stood up straight again and opened the door further for Fang to enter.

Fang's smile stayed on her face as she slowly swaggered past Lightning and into the house. "Alrighty, ladies and gents! Where shall we begin?"

"I thought you were the one with the plan," Lightning said as she closed the door.

"I am. I was just tryna be polite, it not being my house and all," Fang reassured. "Ya know, no one likes a bossy pants. Or well, some people do." Fang turned to Lightning and winked.

Lightning scoffed and turned to the younger Pulsian. "Vanille?"

"We figured that the best way to start things off was to find out what everyone can do," the redhead said with a peppy smile from her seat on the sofa between Snow and Hope.

"Come again?" Lightning asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, we all seem to have different specialties. Or, at least Fang and I do."

Lightning still looked at Vanille with a puzzled expression. "So you're saying that I might be able to do more than control the wind?"

"Exactly," Vanille nodded, jumping up from the sofa and hopping to the middle of the room. "For instance, I learned that if I want to, when I touch people, I can make them feel sick… Or if someone's hurt, I can make them feel better. I also noticed that I can play with some of the elements. So if you're anything like me, Lightning, you can probably do more than control the wind. Has anyone else got an idea of what they can do?"

Vanille scanned over the Cocoonians with a look of interest. Each of them seemed to be mulling over their past few days in their heads, trying to think if there were any clues of what they were capable of.

Hope looked around from Snow to Lightning as well. "I, uh, think I may have figured something out too," he finally said sheepishly. "I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I was tutoring this guy on the football team. He had an exam and was really bummed out about it, saying he knew he was going to fail. I tried to cheer him up. I gave him a pat on the back, and I just felt this energy pass through me. Then all of sudden, he just changed. He was all happy and just ran out, talking about how he could do it. I don't know… I think I made him braver or something?"

"Hmmm," Vanille rubbed her chin. "So you have a way of making people feel good."

Snow and Fang snickered and Lightning shot them each a disapproving look. Hope blushed and looked down at his hands. "Don't worry about them. It's something we'll look into," Vanille comforted, disregarding the two laughing teens. "Anyone else?"

Silence.

"Okay, then let's get testing!" Vanille smiled and jumped up with a fist in the air. "Fang and I have some ideas on where to start with everyone."

* * *

"So, uh… you sure this is a good idea?" Snow asked nervously. The group had migrated to the backyard with Fang, Lightning, Hope, and Vanille standing closer to the house while Snow stood alone on the opposite side of the yard.

Lightning was leaning forward on a baseball bat while rolling a ball around in one of her hands. Her eyes were glued to Snow, eyeing him as if he were a piece of meat. "Oh, yeaaaah," Vanille assured him. "After the way you handled those officers at the Vestige, Fang and I firmly believe that you have the ability to withstand a lot of force. Kinda like a sentinel of some sort."

"Can we at least use something a little, uh, softer for this test run?" Snow uneasily tugged at the collar of his jacket, trying not to meet Lightning's intense stare.

"Well, silly, if we do that, how will we know if you actually have the ability? We need to be exactly sure!"

"Yeah, silly." Snow slightly cringed on hearing the sinister tone of Lightning's voice as she agreed with Vanille. He finally dared to look her way and was greeted by a slight smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. Despite how demented it looked, Snow swore he had never seen the girl so happy in her life. "It's the only way."

Next to Lightning, Fang stood with her weight shifted to one side and her arms crossed, watching the pinkette out the corner of her eye. She felt a bit bad for Snow right now. She really did. But she'd be totally lying if she said she wasn't enjoying the moment. Not so much for the torture that Snow was being pulled through, but more because she couldn't get enough of Lightning like this. The way she was bent over, leaning against that baseball bat… And the dark, mischievous tone that her voice had taken? Incredibly sexy.

"We don't have anything 'softer' to use." Lightning was still responding to Snow's continuing objections towards their chosen research methods.

"Yes, you do! There's a wiffle ball and bat at the top of the closet in Serah's room!" Snow combated before quickly gasping and shutting his mouth. Lightning's body stiffened and her eyes grew wide in disbelieving shock. "Wait. Now before you get all worked up, I was only in there bec— AUGH!"

Snow doubled over, a knee falling to the ground and one hand wrapping around his stomach while his other hand planted to the grass to keep him from falling over after a baseball had quickly shot forward and struck him in the gut, not too far above his groin region.

"Nice shot," Fang said with a light smirk, stepping closer to the still rigid pink-head.

"I missed," Lightning replied, turning her head slightly to look at Fang with a comic gleam in her eye.

"Heeeyyyy!" Vanille chastised. "You didn't wait til he was ready!"

"Oops." Lightning shrugged.

"Now we have to do it again!"

"What?!" Snow squeaked through a strained voice, his head shooting up.

* * *

"So for this test, we'll be able to see who can control the elements, such as ice, wind, fire and other stuff! And with lunch time so close at hand, what better way than by cooking!" Vanille announced, as everyone filled in the kitchen.

"Yeah, you guys. Just come in and help yourselves," Lightning droned sarcastically, the last person to actually walk into her kitchen.

"Sorry bout that," Fang said apologetically, looking over her shoulder with a modest smile. "In our culture, we're used to everything being shared amongst everybody. It's an 'our food is your food' type of deal. You don't mind, do ya?"

Lightning shrugged and released a soft breath. "I guess we've got to figure out what these powers are some way or another. Just please, don't make a mess."

"No problem!" Vanille sang. "And I know just the recipe to use. Willow's famous—"

"Infamous," Fang murmured under her breath to Snow, who quietly snickered to himself.

"—hedge frog chili soup! Y'all do have hedge frog, right?" Vanille looked over to Lightning for confirmation.

"Holy shit! They have everything in here!"

Lightning's head swiveled around to see Fang's upper half already buried in her refrigerator, pulling out ingredients. Vanille happily accepted them and laid them out across the island of the kitchen before dividing them into groups.

"So here's how it'll go. Snow, you'll try cooking the veggies. Hope, you'll try cooking the meat. And Lightning will cook the base soup part. Try using fire to cook the food, wind to stir, and we'll use ice to freeze it afterwards for a later day. Got it?" Vanille looked over each person's faces for questions.

"So I take it that means you all plan on leaving with a doggy bag," Lightning mused, folding her arms across her chest.

"Don't be like that, Lightosphere," Fang said lightheartedly. "The inside of your fridge is like Narnia. Y'all won't miss it. And ya definitely won't miss the shits that come with it."

"What?" Lightning's head shot in Vanille's direction, her expression asking whether or not Fang was joking.

"Don't pay her any mind," Vanille said, waving Fang off. "She's just upset because she can't do any of the elemental stuff. We tried."

Fang made a face and stuck her tongue out at Vanille before taking a seat at the kitchen table to watch the others. Vanille first ushered the rest of the group over to the sink, where she made motions with her hands, playing with the moisture in the air enough to form a sphere of water in front of her that she used to wash her hands with. She then instructed the others to do the same.

Hope easily called forth enough water to wash his hands, face, arms, and legs in. Snow was able to summon water forth just as quickly and with just as much ease, but it just didn't seem as if he had as much power for it as Hope did, only being able to summon up barely enough for his hands. Lightning, on the other hand, struggled.

Vanille stood behind Lightning and lifted on her toes to peek over the girl's shoulder and into the sink. "Are you sure you're focusing on conjuring water? You have to want it to be there. Oooh! Have you tried thinking of peeing?"

Lightning grit her teeth as her hands continued to move around in circles in the air to no avail. "No, I haven't."

"How about this?" Snow asked before clearing his throat and leaning close to her ear. "Waterwaterwaterwaterwaterwat erwater-glurg!"

A heavy stream of water assaulted Snow's face, successfully choking him, as Lightning glared. Her hands were still outstretched in his direction as Fang whistled from the table. Vanille looked down to the floor, which was now soaking wet, similar to Snow. "Well, you definitely have the aptitude."

Fang volunteered to do the mopping while the others continued to cook. Snow was the first finished, for all he had to do was cut and sauté the veggies. After he was done, Vanille made note that he definitely had the ability, albeit it didn't seem as if he had as strong of a hold on it as everyone else. "But once we get enough practice, I'm sure it'll get much stronger."

Truthfully, that was good enough for Snow. He gave Vanille a lopsided grin before taking a seat next to Fang at the table.

Vanille then ventured to the stove where Lightning and Hope were still cooking. "Hope, you're like a prodigy!" she cooed, clasping her hands together.

"Uhh, thanks…" Hope blushed. Out of everyone in the group, he seemed to have the most power and ease with controlling the elements. At the moment, he was effortlessly stirring the hedge frog meat while steadily heating it to cook. Vanille gave his shoulder a congratulatory squeeze before sidestepping over to Lightning.

On looking down at the pinkette's progress she frowned. Just like with the water, it seemed as if Lightning was having trouble getting her powers to work. After seeing the amount and force of the water that she had doused Snow in, there was no doubt in Vanille's mind that she definitely had high potential for the gift. However, for some reason she just couldn't seem to focus on it.

Vanille lightly touched Lightning's shoulder and felt the girl stiffen slightly. "Um," Vanille began, "Maybe you should try clearing your mind. See if that helps."

Lightning didn't say a word but continued to stare at the pot and make motions in the air with her hands. Just as it had been doing before, the fire below the pot flickered on and off at different levels and intensities, never staying present or consistent. "Are you trying?" Vanille asked softly.

"Yes, I'm trying," Lightning growled back, obviously agitated.

"Okay, okay. Well, since we know that you do have the ability, how about you let me take over? We can practice building your power up later."

"No," Lightning ground out, never breaking eye contact with the pot. "I can do it."

Vanille attempted to say something else in hopes to ease the older teen but was interrupted by a somewhat loud buzzing sound from behind them.

"Whoa, ho, ho," Snow boomed. "Fang, why is Tammy Bridges texting you?"

"Aye! Ever heard of privacy? Gimme that."

"Nope!" The exclamation was followed by the sound of chairs squeaking and scraping across the floor. Vanille sighed at the racket going on behind them and looked to Lightning. The girl's jaw had tightened immensely, but she still kept her eyes glued to the pot.

"Geez, no wonder you didn't want me to read this. Talk about risqué… Fang, do me and you need to sit down and have 'the talk'?"

"If the text that ya won't even let me read is as risqué as ya say it is, maybe I should be getting the talk from Tammy instead."

"Ha, from someone who read the text, trust me. Next time you see Tammy, the two of you won't be talking."

Vanille rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the bickering duo. "Can you two cut it out? Lightning's trying to— wahh!"

Vanille jumped back at the sudden burst of heat against her body. The whole pot on Lightning's side of the stove was engulfed in flames. Hope jumped back, wide-eyed at the blazing site as well, before thrusting two hands towards the fire. In a moment, the flames dissipated.

Vanille took a heavy swallow before taking another cautious step to Lightning's side. "G-good job. And the soup should be pretty well cooked once we're done…"

"Just like Willow's," Fang quipped from behind.

* * *

After eating, the group found themselves lined up again outside, looking towards the sky. Vanille had given them drills that involved them evoking thunder and creating flashes of lightning in the sky. Fang leaned against the backside of the house, right behind where Lightning and Snow stood, watching them.

"True to yer namesake, eh?" Fang asked with a grin when Lightning was able to cause a white streak to fly across the clear blue sky.

Lightning glanced over her shoulder, a relieved and proud expression on her face for being able to do this one thing so easily. "I guess so. You know, Vanille's been out here doing most of these tests with us, but I haven't seen you do a single thing. What are your powers? Or are you true to your namesake too and give people super rabies when you bite them?"

Fang tilted her head and raised her eyebrows, her grin never disappearing. "So you wanna see what I can do?" She smoothly kicked her foot back against the house to push herself up and sauntered forward so that she was standing between Snow and Light. "Then let me give ya a lil' demo." Her eyes left Lightning and scanned around the yard, landing on a volleyball that was lying idly in the grass. "How attached are you to that ball?" she asked, eyes quickly flicking back to Lightning.

Lightning shrugged. "I could manage without it."

"Good," Fang smirked then faced forward with a determined look in her eye. The intensity of it almost made Lightning shiver. "Vanille!" Fang called, nodding her head in the direction of the ball.

"Gotcha!" Vanille replied, running to the ball and scooping it off the ground.

After receiving a confirmatory nod from the older Pulsian again, Vanille tossed the ball up as high as she could. Fang's head tilted back, her eyes following the ball as it rose to its apex in the air. Then, in one fluent motion, Fang's arm cocked back behind her before quickly flying upward in a throwing motion towards the ball. Lightning hadn't even noticed that the girl's hand had been glowing. A luminous, white sphere shot from Fang's hand and soared through the air until it collided with the volleyball, causing the thing to burst and rain volleyball residue into the yard.

"That was awesome!" Snow cheered, jumping and pumping a fist in the air.

"Impressive," Lightning agreed, still looking in the sky where the ball had been. She lowered her head back down to look at Fang, who still gazed upward as well. She had a somewhat triumphant look on her face. "Is that all you can do?"

"Heh. I always have a few extra tricks up my sleeve," the Pulsian replied, eyes still skyward. In another swift motion, one of her hands reached out beside her to touch Snow's stomach. Snow immediately groaned and bent over, grabbing himself around the waist before falling to the ground in a bent up heap.

"That's for taking my phone, jackass."

"Faaaannnnggggg!" Vanille scolded, rushing over to kneel at the boy's side.

Fang looked behind her to give Vanille an apologetic (with a hint of 'you should've expected it of me') look. Lightning just observed and tried to suppress the 'smiletening' that she knew was apparent on her face. "Very impressive."

* * *

The next 'tests' that they had taken involved feats of strength. Vanille would point to something that looked heavy and asked them to try and pick it up. Hope and Vanille didn't have the power for these tests in the slightest. Lightning was able to pick up more of the moderately heavy things, but it was apparent that Snow and Fang were gifted the most in the strength department. Somewhere along the way, the pointing and lifting household furniture test somehow transformed into a competition of strength between Snow and Fang, who first tried arm wrestling before going outside to actually wrestle each other.

Lightning, Hope, and Vanille sat on the back step of the house to watch them. As slim and tiny as Fang was compared to the brawny teenage boy, she seemed to be the stronger of the two and was constantly pinning him. However, one had to give Snow credit where it was due; he never gave up and continued fighting to try and best the girl.

"Is she always like this?" Lightning asked with her chin resting on the palm of her hand. She watched with a look of bored disinterest as Fang and Snow tumbled across the yard, Fang yodeling a loud battle cry the entire time.

"Pretty much," Vanille answered, her eyes following the two as they now rolled back to the side of the yard from whence they had first rolled, Fang's battle cry now turning into a more high pitched yelping as Snow tried putting her into a headlock. "You should've seen her when we were kids. She couldn't keep still. I was always in the fields picking flowers to bring to her sick bed when she got hurt jumping off of cliffs or houses or trees and stuff."

"She used to jump off of cliffs?" Lightning asked, turning to Vanille disbelievingly.

"Oh, it's actually very fun! And after the first few bad landings, she got really good at it."

"UNCLE! UNCLE!" Snow called from the back of the yard. Fang had him pinned to the ground with her legs wrapped around his neck and his arms tangled behind his back.

"Yer aunt and uncle can't help ya now!" Fang laughed maniacally in return.

"No, Fang! It's a Cocoonian term for he gives up!" Vanille called, getting to her feet.

"Oh." Fang loosened the grip around Snow and rolled off of him before standing up and brushing herself off. "Why didn't ya just say that then?"

Snow rubbed at his neck and slowly stood. Today really wasn't his day… "Ahh," he winced, and lightly touched his lip. "Is it busted?" he asked, turning to Fang and pushing his bottom lip forward.

"Ouch… looks like it. Ya got a little scrape on your neck too. Sorry bout that."

"Meh," Snow shrugged it off. "What about you?"

Fang raised her hand to reveal a bright red mark where some of the skin had been scraped off her palm.

"Oh, goody!" Vanille peeped, bouncing over to where Snow and Fang stood. "Now we can see if anyone else has the power to heal! Snow, how about you go first? Try healing Fang."

"Okay," Snow nodded. He took Fang by the wrist and stared at her palm. After a few minutes of waiting and Snow staring at Fang's hand with an expression that made him look constipated, Vanille made him stop.

"It hasn't taken you this long to use an ability all day. I think it might be safe to say you don't have this one," Vanille said, calmly taking Fang's wrist away from Snow, whose face had gone red in straining.

Snow let out a deep breath and nodded while Vanille turned around to Lightning and Hope. "So, Hope, how about you try healing Snow. Lightning, you can try to heal Fang."

Lightning got to her feet and walked over to where Fang and Vanille were standing. Vanille grabbed one of Lightning's hands and placed Fang's on top of it before leaving them to monitor the other two.

Lightning stared down at Fang's open palm in her hand. For a girl who seemed so rough around the edges, she had such a delicate and dainty looking hand with skin that was so smooth and soft. Lightning's brow furrowed and she softly shook her head; that wasn't what she was supposed to be concentrating on. She could now feel the taller girl's eyes traveling up and down her face, studying her changing facial expressions. She couldn't help but become a bit more self-conscious about trying to use her abilities.

After a short moment had passed with no progress, Lightning could feel herself growing frustrated and a deep frown starting to set on her face.

"You're trying too hard."

Lightning's vision shot up to meet the green eyes that had been studying her for the past few moments. "Huh?"

"You're trying too hard," Fang repeated calmly. "Like you're trying to force it. And all it seems to be doing is making it harder for ya. Try relaxing a bit. Just let it flow"

Lightning let out an aggravated breath. "I'm supposed to think about what I want to do but at the same time I'm not supposed to think about it too much?"

"A bit confusing," Fang chuckled softly. "How bout this? Think of something that you're naturally good at. What's it like when you're doing it? How much do ya think about it?"

Lightning shook her head. "I've had to work my ass off at everything I'm good at. There's been no natural advantage."

"That's not true," Fang said in a soft and encouraging voice. "First off, you're naturally smart. I mean, like a whip smart. Whenever Palmer tries to sneak attack ya with one of those thought questions, you don't even bat an eyelash before ya hit him with an answer. I think some of 'em even confuse him sometimes."

Lightning's cheeks involuntarily flushed at the compliment as she remembered a particular time when Mr. Palmer asked for her opinion on a certain health care policy. After she had given her answer, he stared at her blankly for a moment before quickly asking another question, not really having a follow-up. "A lot of that comes from studying," Lightning finally replied.

"If you say so… but not too long ago I walked past the gym while you were doing some training. And some of the drills you did looked like they would give highly trained soldiers a bit of a workout. But not you. You breezed through 'em like it was second nature. Heh, kinda looked more like you were dancing than fighting."

Lightning couldn't deny that one. Fighting and working out did seem to come naturally. It was a hobby that had started when she was a little girl, wanting to grow up to be a PSICOM soldier like her father. It then turned into a coping mechanism after her mother had passed. When she competed, it was like her body and mind would meld into one. Her mind could make snap decisions in less than a second and her body was instantaneously on the same page.

As she thought about the ease at which she could train, a tingling sensation spread through her hand as it emitted a pale, green glow. The bright red scrape on Fang's hand slowly started to dull as the healing process began. She heard Fang make a content humming noise in the back of her throat.

"So you've been watching me work out?" Lightning asked in a low voice, actively avoiding Fang's gaze by staring at the girl's palm instead. "A little bit creepy, don't you think?

"Hey, it was only once," Fang defended playfully, a sheepish smile creeping up on her face. "And I couldn't help but watch." Her eyes dropped down to where her hand rested on Lightning's, and she slowly leaned forward in an attempt to inconspicuously get closer to the other girl. Lightning's heart felt as if it were running the mile and her body grew warm as she felt Fang's breath rustle a few of the stray hairs that framed her face. "Beauty is just another thing that comes naturally to you."

Fang's pointer digit slowly inched up to softly caress the inside of Lightning's hand until it had worked its way around Lightning's pointer finger, softly interlocking the two. Lightning's temperature skyrocketed.

"Ahhhh!"

Fang's hand quickly retracted from Lightning's grasp as the raven-haired girl yanked it back to her own body. It had all happened so fast that Lightning couldn't really comprehend what was going on. She just stared wide-eyed at Fang, who grimaced and cradled her hand to her chest.

"Fang?!" Vanille worriedly called, running to her best friend's side and gingerly pulling at the hand to look at it. "What happened?"

"Ahhh," Fang hissed, clenching her jaw and staring down at her hand. "I think she burned me."

Vanille threw Lightning a displeased look from over her shoulder before turning back to Fang. "Here. Let me see it."

"Ow!"

"Stop being a baby."

Lightning took a short moment to compose herself. She didn't remember thinking of or wanting fire. She just remembered feeling warm, and Fang standing so close, and her stomach getting all bubbly... "I… I didn't really mean to—"

"It's okay, Lightning," Vanille said, looking over her shoulder with a much more pleasant expression than her last one. "We're all still new to this. It's still hard for us to control our powers, and it doesn't help if someone doesn't know when to stop provoking people. Right, Fang?"

Fang grunted in response. She seemed to be brooding, but she eventually sighed and agreed. "Yeah, Lightplug. It's fine. This is why we're here in the first place, right?"

Lightning slowly nodded, not feeling much better about the situation. She was usually so much more in control of… of everything. Now it felt as if her whole body was on the fritz. How was she supposed to be useful at all in any of this if she couldn't even control herself to do simple things that even Snow could control?

"But for future reference…"

Lightning was jarred from her silent reverie by Fang's voice. She looked up to meet those bright green eyes that held more concern in them than anger.

"…next time I call ya hot, don't take me so literally." And of course, the comment was accompanied by a tiny smirk.

Lightning's brows furrowed as she gave Fang an incredulous look that blatantly read, "You're seriously making jokes about this right now?!" Not really wanting to see what type of reply Fang would give to that, Lightning turned her attention to Vanille's hands, which were glowing a much brighter and more vibrant green than hers had been. The redhead closed both of her hands around Fang's injured one and Fang's face immediately relaxed. For some reason, watching this made Lightning feel even worse.

* * *

"Snow, I swear to Etro! When you come out, that bathroom better be in the same fucking condition it was in when you got in there!" Lightning yelled through gritted teeth, banging her fist against the door.

"Told ya that chili gives ya the shits," Fang said lightheartedly, reaching towards the ceiling to stretch. "But is there another loo around here or something? I've gotta make a house call myself."

Lightning's head whipped around to give Fang a dark look. "Simmer down there, Sparky," Fang said, pushing her hands down in a calming motion. "My tummy's grown immune to the effects. It's just a number one."

Lightning first eyed Fang warily, but on remembering that she had accidentally burned the girl not too long ago, her face softened. "You can use mine. Up the stairs, make a right, then go straight to get to my room. Bathroom's connected from the inside."

Fang nodded and headed to the stairway.

"And Fang?"

Fang paused at the bottom step and raised her eyebrows questioningly in Lightning's direction.

"Don't touch anything."

Fang feigned a hurt look before continuing up the stairs. "Why does everyone just assume that I touch and grab everywhere I go?"

* * *

Fang picked up the first gadget she had seen upon entering the room.

She twirled the slender object between her fingers, not sure what to make of it. Kind of looked like a fancy pen. Ooooh! And it had a button!

Fang clicked the button on bottom of the object, not really knowing what to expect. And truthfully, the thing didn't disappoint. The object split in half, shooting the end without the button forward like a little rocket, straight into a plastic cup filled with real pens and pencils on Lightning's desk. "Oh, shit…" Fang silently gasped, rushing over to the desk to clean up the mess.

Her hands quickly picked at all the writing utensils and paper clips that had spilled out of the cup and across the desk. Maybe she did have a problem with touching. Okay. She had scooped all of the pens and pencils, now all she needed was the rest of the paperclips. She was easily able swipe most of the clips off the bare desk and into a hand below to dump back in the cup. The rest of the paper clips were resting on a small packet of papers lying on the corner of the desk.

Fang carefully picked the packet up and folded it into a curve to pour the remaining clips into the cup. 'Just like new,' she thought to herself with a smile. She went to place the packet back down on the desk when her eyes caught on to the bolded words at the top of the first page.

"Guardian Corps training application?" she softly read the words aloud before scanning over the document and flipping to scan over the next few pages.

She could feel her jaw tightening. It was none of her business what Lightning did in her free time or what Lightning wanted to do with the rest of her life. Or now that they were all in this l'Cie thing together, was it? No, no, no. From the looks of it, it'd be awhile before that application would have to be sent and processed. There was a slight chance that the whole l'Cie ordeal would be over with, for one reason or another, by the time this training program was even supposed to start.

Fang placed the packet back down where she had found it, but couldn't stop herself from digging around the rest of the desk. Lightning was quite the organized individual. Fang hadn't known what she was really looking for, but she was still able to find a checklist and training regimen that the pinkette had written out in order to prepare for the program. Fang gritted her teeth as she read over it before taking a steady breath and rearranging the desk back to the condition it had been in when she had first entered.

She idly rubbed at the black sleeve covering her branded shoulder as she walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"Fang and I were able to find a field near the edge of the reservation that would be perfect for practicing our abilities at. It's really out of the way and looks like no one's been there in ages. All it needs is a good grass cutting and it'll be good to go!" Vanille chirped happily, sitting on the edge of the sofa.

"As long as it doesn't have to be my house, I'm content. You guys have done enough damage." Lightning gave Snow an accusatory side-eye with her last comment. But since they were on the subject of bathrooms… Lightning's eyes flitted up to look at the ceiling. Fang had been up there for quite a while.

"So I was thinking of grouping us by our strongest abilities for practice. So for most of the training, I think it'd be easier for me, Hope, and Lightning to practice healing and elements while Snow and Fang do guarding and strength training. And for all the other stuff in between, we can just pair off as we like," Vanille stated.

"Sounds good to me," Hope said, looking to Snow who nodded as well.

"So if I wanted to do strength training, I'd have to find time to practice with either Snow or Fang?" Lightning asked.

"I dunno, neighbor," Snow interjected, rubbing the back of his neck. "Me and Fang are pretty strong. You might get hurt in one of our wrestling matches."

Lightning's eyes narrowed on the boy. She opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly cut off by a voice from the stairwell, "I wanna spar with ya."

Everyone's heads turned to face Fang, who was making her way down the stairs in slow, deliberate steps. "What?" Lightning asked. She had been more focused on trying to build her strength and hadn't even been thinking about fighting technique.

"I've seen you train before. You've got good technique and I wanna practice mine, so I'd like to spar," Fang stated matter-of-factly, coming to a halt and crossing her arms once she had reached the bottom of the stairs. "You wouldn't like a sparring partner?"

"I, uh, yeah," Lightning slowly babbled, giving Fang a curious look. The girl seemed a bit more aggressive than she had earlier in the day.

"Then it's settled. And now that we've done the whole test drive powers thing, what's next with the focus?" Fang looked to Vanille expectantly.

Vanille stared back at Fang through questioning eyes. "Is now a good time to talk about it?" she asked slowly, searching Fang's face for a hint as to what was going on.

"As long as we're sportin' these trendy new brands, then yeah. It's a perfect time, Vanille," Fang returned in a chippy voice. "Any ideas?"

The room was silent at first. Everyone could feel the tension, but no one could really pinpoint what had caused it. Hope looked around timidly before clearing his throat. "I was thinking that maybe we should go back to the Vestige. See if the fal'Cie is still there. Maybe find more answers in the Gran Pulse room."

"I understand the thought process, but I doubt we'll be able to go back into the Vestige after everything that's happened," Lightning said, still chancing a couple of uneasy looks in Fang's direction.

"But didn't your dad basically clean our records? Knowing him, it was a thorough cleanse, so unless the same security guards are working the door, we might be able to get in without anyone really knowing it was us."

"Vanille and Fang definitely won't be able to get in this time," Snow pointed out. "How are we even going to get into the back room without a good pickpocket?"

"Well, y'all do have powers now. You can try something like freezing and breaking the lock," Vanille suggested.

Lightning rubbed her hand over her face. "And if there isn't some new type of alarm system set in place, what happens if we do get in? And what if the fal'Cie is there? Do we just go up and ask him nicely to lift the curse that he was so kind enough to give us in the first place?"

"Ask him like that, and I don't see how he'd be able to refuse," Fang replied in a dry tone from her spot near the staircase.

Lightning shot Fang a peeved look but the girl seemed impassive to it all. "I just think," Hope began, looking desperately around to everyone's faces, "that if this focus is as serious as Fang keeps saying it is, then it's worth a try. What are our other options?"

"Well, looka that," Fang laughed harshly, "Someone finally takes my struggles into consideration. That's refreshing."

"Fang…" Vanille gave the older girl a puzzled look. Fang just shrugged it off. "You know, it is kind of getting late. We should probably start heading back to the reservation. Let me write down my number. Whenever y'all come up with a plan for the Vestige, just let us know. We can't go in with y'all, but if there's some way to help, we'd be glad to do it." Vanille took Snow's phone and punched her number in for him to share with the others while Hope fetched her one of the frozen blocks of chili soup from the kitchen. She then looked in Fang's direction and jerked her head towards the door.

Fang followed suit behind Vanille to the door with Lightning trailing not too far behind them. When the Pulsians had stepped outside, Vanille swiftly turned around to give Lightning a tight hug around the waist. Lightning let out a surprised puff of air, not being able to fully register the quick hug until it was already over. "Thank you for having us, Lightning," she said brightly. "It was fun."

Lightning made a soft grunting sound in agreement. She hadn't really thought about it, but it actually had been fun. Up until the end when Fang had gotten back from her bathroom break, she almost didn't want them to leave. Speaking of… "Fang?"

The tanned girl had already started walking down the pathway to the sidewalk, but stopped and turned halfway around to look at Lightning when her name was called. She didn't speak, but just arched an eyebrow at her. _What?_

Lightning felt put on the spot. She didn't really know what she had planned to say. All she knew was that something had changed the air between them and that she didn't like it. "I really didn't mean to burn you."

Fang's brows scrunched a bit as she stared at Lightning, scrutinizing her for a quiet moment. She then turned her head away and released a long breath. "And I meant it when I said it was okay. You're… you're a good person, Lighterine; I can tell. Ornery at times, but still a good person. Give Vanille a call and we'll figure out a training schedule, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded slowly, not really knowing what Fang was trying to get at but still feeling a little bit more at ease over the whole situation. Fang put on a content face and gave a resolute nod as well. She then turned to continue back down the pathway.

Before Lightning could fully close the door, she heard a loud smacking sound followed by Vanille's voice shouting, "This is why we can't have nice things! I told the matron at the orphanage that I'd be fine if they just let me sleep with a puppy, but no! They bunked me with you instead! And I've been dealing with your little mood swings ever since! What if she doesn't invite us back? Did you see that refrigerator?! Augh!"

Lightning leaned her ear closer to the crack in the door that she had become too curious to close all the way. Vanille's voice was now coming out as muffled shouts with an occasional yelp. "I love you too, Vanille," Fang's voice rolled over the sounds of the redhead in distress.

Lightning softly shook her head before fully closing the door.

* * *

**A/N:** Once again, thank y'all for the feedback! It's really appreciated. And I think someone asked awhile back what kinds of powers Fang/everybody would have...? I didn't want to spill the beans then, but if it wasn't really clear from this chapter, I was trying to stick them with powers related to the three main roles each of them had in the game. Hope y'all enjoy and just a forewarning, I've got a kind of busy rest of February so it might take me longer than usual to get the next chapter up.


	11. Chapter 11

"Good morning, Claire." Colonel Farron greeted, not even bothering to look away from the Sunday newspaper as his eldest daughter silently entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, dad," Lightning replied in a quiet voice. Her father had a creepy way of always knowing which one of his children was entering a room and which wasn't. Maybe it was the military training. Or maybe it was because Serah barreled through the house like a blind man working a bulldozer during the mornings…

"You're up pretty early."

"Yeah." Lightning couldn't really think of a better way to answer. She was up quite early, but mostly because she couldn't force herself to get any sleep. When she wasn't in the bathroom, hanging on to the toilet seat while cursing the gods and the Pulsians for allowing her to eat that hedge frog chili soup, she spent most of the night locked in her room trying to play around with her newfound powers. And when she actually did try to get sleep, her mind immediately became muddled, thinking of the visions that would come about when she dreamed. That definitely stressed her out enough to keep her awake.

Farron lowered the paper to give his daughter a good once over as she walked to the refrigerator. She looked tired. Maybe the events at the Vestige had taken a bigger toll on her than he had thought… "Claire, I might run in to headquarters for a little bit today. Not for anything big, but just to check up on the progress of some things. I know how you love taking visits there. Would you like to join me?"

Lightning froze midway through digging through the fridge as she seemed to think about the offer. "Actually… I have plans. Or I was going to ask you about having plans. I may have found a sparring partner to train with, and we're supposed to begin today." Lightning closed the refrigerator door to look her father in the eye. "I don't know if I'm allowed to leave the house or not, but would I have permission if it was for training?"

Farron was a little moved by the refusal. If there was one thing that he had to give his daughter credit for, it was her self-discipline. He couldn't believe she was making such a sacrifice as a way to continue punishing herself. "Of course. But you can surely reschedule, can't you? I wouldn't mind you putting off training for another day or so to come along."

Lightning stilled again and slightly bowed her head to mull her options over. "No, thank you." Her head lifted again, a bright and resolute look in her eye. "I'd really like to train. Would I be able to visit HQ with you another day?"

Now that threw Farron for a loop. In all the times that he had ever asked if she wanted to visit headquarters, she usually jumped at the opportunity. "Of course… Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Thanks, dad."

Lightning gave her father a light smile before quietly exiting the kitchen, not really aware of the curious way that he was eyeing her as she left. Her light smile lingered a bit as she hit the stairs and quickly jogged up. She actually was a kind of excited for the training session that her little group had planned for today.

* * *

"So this is a little thing that I'd like to call Tag 2.0," Fang announced in a loud voice, strutting in front the rest of her comrades with her hands held behind her back.

The l'Cie had decided, via group texting, that since it was the weekend, they would all meet at the field together for the first official training session. For the rest of the days, they would plan their trainings around the schedules of those who had similar abilities. The training started with Hope, Lightning, and Vanille practicing the elements while Fang and Snow practiced fighting and blocking. After a short break, Fang had called the whole group together to listen to an idea that she and Snow had conjured up.

"In this version of tag, we will be split into two teams. Team Sickness…" Fang paused to stick out her tongue in a punk-rockish sort of way and ruffle Vanille's hair, "and Team Health." She pointed to Lightning, Hope, and Snow. "The goal of the game is to get someone from the opposing team to give up by saying 'godfather'."

"Do you mean 'uncle'?" Hope asked.

"Uncle!" Fang corrected. "While Vanille will be allowed to use elements, Team Health can only lose if they cry uncle when sick. Team Health, y'all can heal each other when someone gets sick and get us to cry out any way ya want... If you have it in ya." Fang grinned deviously at her last comment.

"Even by physical force?" Lightning asked, arching an eyebrow. She was still struggling with controlling most of her powers.

"Especially by physical force," Fang replied with a wink. "So? Everybody down?"

There was a murmur of confirmation amongst the teens before they all took to different sides of the field to discuss their game plans.

"I think that our biggest priority needs to be protecting Snow," Hope said as he, Lightning, and Snow huddled together.

"What? Why me?"

"I dunno. You can't heal, you can't make people sick, and your elemental magic isn't as strong… You just seem to be at a disadvantage," Hope said with an apologetic shrug.

"Well, my vote is that we run in and take them by surprise. Hope's got the most gun power in those hands of his. Me and Lightning can fend off Fang while you go for the jugular on Vanille," Snow proposed.

"Too brash. I've got a different approach, " Lightning countered. "I say we build our game plan around Hope. He's the only one with consistent healing power, so we'll need him if either of us gets tagged. He also has the best long-range attacks. So if we move, he should always be relatively in our center, with one person blocking while another gangs up offensively on Hope's target."

"Uh… cool." Neither boy really had any better suggestions.

"Oi! Princesses!" Team Health looked up from their huddle to the other side of the field where Fang and Vanille stood waiting for them. "Are y'all ready or what?"

"Til death do us part on three?" Snow asked with a grin, turning to reach his hand in the middle of their huddle.

Lightning rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away, leaving the huddle to walk towards the middle of the field. Hope smiled at Snow and shrugged before jogging off behind the older girl.

It was game time.

* * *

The game actually became much more intense than any of them could've imagined, Fang especially. After the first couple minutes, it became clear who Team Health's main target was: Vanille. And they kept Hope tucked behind them like a sacred treasure, making it hard for either her or Vanille to tag the twerp.

"Whoa crap!" Fang quickly tensed up, hardening her skin and throwing an arm forward just as a big block of ice flew in her direction and shattered against it. She cast Hope a fierce glare from her spot on the field. _Little shit._

She wasn't going to lie, though. She and Vanille had planned on ganging up on Hope as well, him being the smallest and all. Throughout the game, Fang had been able to tag and sicken everyone on Team Health at least twice EXCEPT for Hope. So now, her game plan had changed into something that she personally wanted to call 'Capture the Snow'.

"Vanille! Hot freeze the pinkie!" she yelled, taking off into a full sprint down the field.

"I'll try!" Vanille called back. The redhead was currently running away from a moderately sized dust storm that had almost made her cry uncle the first time she had been caught in it.

Fang's eyes narrowed as she quickly approached Snow, who stood a few feet in front of Hope like a guardian soldier. Hope's eyes widened on seeing the girl coming at them so forcefully and did his part as he was told whenever it looked as if things were getting too hot… He ran.

But this time, it didn't matter. And Fang wasn't even going to bother chasing him. She'd just get swept into another fight with Lightning, who always appeared out of nowhere when she tried to pursue the boy. Her target was now the blonde giant who stood, bracing himself for impact, a few steps ahead. And impact is just what she'd give him… or not.

Fang immediately stilled to a halt in front of Snow before standing straight and smiling, looking off in the direction that Hope had run. Snow was in a tight sentinel position, but he visibly relaxed on seeing Fang's sudden and unexpected stop. He stared at her curiously, wondering whether something was wrong or if he should try clocking her or what.

Fang let out a dramatic sigh, still staring off in Hope's direction. "Dammit, he went away." She then turned to Snow, who was staring at her with ruffled brows. Her smile widened. "Sucks for you."

Snow's eyes grew wide in realization, but it was too late. He had already let his defenses down, and Fang's hand had already landed on his shoulder. Her magic worked immediately, and he could feel himself growing weak. Weak enough to make his legs buckle. This wasn't like the last few times when she had tagged in him passing, trying to get to Hope. This was her going in for the kill.

From her place on the field, Lightning paused for a moment from trying to dodge the different puffs of fire that Vanille had been chasing her with. Hope was running her way. Why was Hope running into a line of obvious, literal fire? Lightning growled to herself. Snow must've gotten tagged again, which meant Fang probably wasn't too far behind chasing after the silver-haired boy.

The only problem was… she wasn't. Lightning looked up, but couldn't see Fang in the close distance at all. Which meant… "Shit." She took off into a run to meet Hope in the middle of the field.

"She's got Snow! She's got Snow!" Hope was calling, semi-out of breath.

"I know," Lightning growled, slowing her pace but never coming to a complete stop. "Stay a small distance behind me. I'll distract her long enough for you to heal him, okay?"

Hope nodded, and Lightning turned her head forward down the field again to continue her rescue mission when—BAM! She ran straight into a wall of ice that had been planted in the middle of the field. She rubbed her head and took a moment to regain her balance. Now that she thought about it, the raining of fire from Vanille had stopped the moment she noticed Hope running her way. This was worse than she had suspected.

Meanwhile, Fang raised a forearm for Vanille to bump as she approached her and a groaning Snow. "Way to put her on ice," Fang joked. "So now, priority numero uno: Don't let 'em get to blondie. He's much more durable than the tyke, so it might take awhile, but he'll give up eventually."

"Gotcha," Vanille said with a determined nod.

Fang smiled and stepped forward so that she was in front of the two. She felt her skin hardening once again as she prepared for whatever onslaught that the other members of Team Health might have in store. She wasn't a minute too soon, because only after a moment of being settled, she felt a harsh wind whip across her face. She grit her teeth and planted her feet further in the ground. Hope had definitely been favoring the 'aeroga' (as they liked to call it) route today.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted as loud as she could over the wind, "If it gets too bad, get out of the way! I can handle this!"

It must've gotten too bad, because Fang could sense that she was the only one left guarding Snow after a minute. To help her older friend out, Vanille stationed herself a decent distance away and started throwing her own spells back at Hope. That only meant one person was left to try and save the blonde now.

Fang relaxed her muscles and turned to meet the icy stare of Team Health's last member head-on. "Ya know," she said, straightening herself into a casual standing position, "if ya get any closer, I could tag you, too."

Lightning raised an amused eyebrow. "You'd have to touch me first."

Fang grinned. "Challenge accepted."

"Can someone just help me?!" Snow moaned from his fetal position on the ground.

He pretty much went ignored as both girls ran towards each other in battle.

* * *

"Get her, Light!"

"For the honor and glory of Gran Pulse, Fang!"

"AUGHH!" Fang lifted her arms to block another one of Lightning's incoming kicks and forcefully push the girl back. "The what?!" she gasped heavily at Vanille, taking only half a second to glance at the redhead from over her shoulder before focusing back on Lightning. The game had stopped a long while ago. No one really knew who won, but all the other members immediately became enraptured by the sparring match that had spurred between the two team leaders.

"I thought it'd be encouraging!" Vanille shouted from the sidelines, where she, Hope, and Snow were sitting in the grass. "Like home world pride or something!"

Lightning felt the side of her lip twitch upward into a slight smirk. "You know, you really could use all the encouraging you can get right now," she said between labored breaths.

Her chest heaved and eyes gleamed as Fang tilted her head at Lightning playfully. _Why do you figure that? _

"If this were a competition, you'd be losing," Lightning replied jokingly. Lightning had been on the offensive for most of their fight, barraging Fang with quick punches, kicks, and jabs, while Fang mostly blocked, reflected, or pulled reversals. Light could feel how strong Fang was, but she definitely held the advantage in speed and fighting technique.

"Slow and steady wins the race, sweetheart," Fang said, bracing herself as Lightning came at her again.

This time, Fang caught the pinkette's wrist and tried to spin her around. Instead, Lightning swiped the other girl's feet from under her, bringing them both to the ground in a wrestling match.

"YESSS!" Snow whooped, pumping a fist into the air from his seat in the grass.

Fang obviously had the upper hand now, but clearly held back as the two rolled and struggled in the grass. They took turns wrapping each other's arms and pinning each other until Lightning maneuvered her way on top of Fang, squeezed her knees around the sides of the taller girl's stomach, and started playfully tap-hitting her face. "Say uncle," she breathed, as she continued to quickly pat at Fang's cheeks and forehead.

Fang twisted and turned her face to try and avoid the taps, but it was to no avail. Pulling her hands forward, the Pulsian reached out to tightly grip Lightning's wrists before bucking her hips and rolling her shoulder.

Lightning's world went topsy-turvy. The sky and grass spun until she felt her back collide with the ground. In that one motion, Fang had found a way to flip their positions. Somewhere in the middle of the flip, Lightning's legs had wrapped themselves securely around Fang's midsection. Fang's stomach pressed against the Cocoonian's as she leaned forward to keep Lightning's wrists tightly pinned to her chest, causing their bodies to gently rock up and down with each heavy breath that she took.

"Say… uncle?" Fang rasped in between gasps of air.

Lightning couldn't say uncle even if she had wanted too. For some reason, her brain just wasn't working. Her motor skills weren't responding and she couldn't find her voice to make words. The only things that seemed to be working right were her eyes, which slowly traveled from Fang's heaving chest, up her slender neck where some of her hair had curled and matted with sweat, to those mesmerizing green eyes that were staring down at her.

Her stomach lightly fluttered and she could feel her skin heating, an unfamiliar warmth working its way from her stomach and moving downward. The last time she felt like this was… oh no. Lightning stiffened and her eyes widened in realization, remembering that these were the same symptoms that had led to her accidentally burning Fang yesterday. She wanted to push Fang off before she accidentally lost control again, but at the same time she couldn't find the will to.

As if the gods had been listening to her prayers, Fang was immediately yanked from on top of her. "Easy does it!" Snow sang, hoisting the girl over his shoulder.

"Aye, what'd ya do that for? I was just about to win." Fang wriggled in Snow's grasp but he kept a tight hold around her. Meanwhile Lightning stared at the sky from her place in the grass and took in a few quick, relieved breaths.

She ran a hand over her face before sitting up and turning to look in Fang and Snow's direction. "No… you weren't. I wasn't… done yet," she pushed out between wheezes.

"Another challenge?" Fang asked brightly, lifting her head up to meet Lightning's gaze.

"No!" Vanille stomped into the space between them, taking turns to give both of them reprimanding glares. "We need to get back to practicing with our powers! And we can't do that with you two taking up the whole field with your roughhousing!"

Fang rolled her eyes and stopped fighting against Snow's grip. "Let's consider it 'to be continued' for later then."

Lightning just nodded. "You're on."

* * *

"…and if I had a weapon, your ass would've been toast," Lightning continued the competitive banter that she and Fang were engaged in as they walked side by side in the direction of Fang's car.

"Weapon? Pink little thing like you fights with weapons?" Fang teased, knowing goddamn well how fierce of a fighter Lightning was. "What kind? Glittery batons?"

Lightning scoffed, giving Fang a sideways glance. "Heh. Funny thing is, my sister actually uses one of those as her go-to weapon in the house. Trained for years in archery, but trusts the glitter…" Lightning shook her head, lightly smirking as she thought about her younger sibling's lack of survival skills. That was something they'd need to work on. "I suppose you've handled a weapon before?"

"Pshhh, handled? More like MASTERED." Fang's chest couldn't have stuck out any further as she spoke. "The Yun clan was known throughout all Gran Pulse as the best hunters around, so knowing the right tools to take a sum'bitch down is our duty."

Lightning made a disbelieving chortling sound and turned her head to give Fang an even more disbelieving look. "You don't believe me?" Fang asked in slight incredulity. "Then how bout this? You bring your weapon of choice to our next sparring session, and I'll bring mine."

"I'm game."

"And I guess you can call Vanille again to schedule it, or do ya just wanna talk it over at school tomorrow?" Fang asked, running a hand through her messy hair.

Lightning thought for a moment before reaching out her hand. "Give me your phone."

Fang's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she obeyed without question. A small smile crept to her face as she watched Lightning punch her number into her cell. "For scheduling and training purposes only," Lightning said, giving Fang a stern look as she returned the phone to her.

"Yes, ma'am," Fang replied.

Lightning's phone immediately vibrated in her gym bag. Without breaking her stride, she unzipped the bag and pulled it out to reveal that she had a new text message from an unsaved number.

" **;) **"

She honestly didn't know what else she had been expecting. Nevertheless, she felt obligated to turn and give the smiling Fang an unimpressed look.

"Fang! Wait up!" Snow jogged up from behind the two girls and slowed to walk in step with them when he was only a pace or two behind. "Uh… Lightning, do you mind if I have a moment with Fang?"

"Whoa, something important. You're not asking me to prom are ya?"

"What? No, I was just thinking and I have a bit of a proposition for you."

"You were thinking?" Lightning asked, feigning shock in her voice. "Now this, I've got to hear."

Snow sighed and shook his head. "Alright, alright. So I was reading—"

"And thinking? Big day, huh?"

"Ha, ha, ha, Lightning. Can you at least let me finish? So I was reading some old comics last night after we left Lightning's house when the idea came to me… Why don't we become super heroes?! Think about it. We could use our powers to help the greater good! And stuff."

Lightning's face twisted into an expression of obvious doubt while Fang seemed to be considering the idea. "Sounds like you've been thinking on this for a bit… What type of hero-ish things are ya planning on doing?"

"Well, I was thinking that tonight we could find a post somewhere in the busy part of downtown where we could keep an eye peeled for nefarious deeds."

Fang's eyebrow lifted at Snow's choice of vocabulary but then she shrugged it off. "I'll go…" She turned her head and her eyes quickly roved over Lightning as a shoddy idea formed in her mind, "if Lighterfluid goes."

"Not happening," Lightning quickly responded.

"C'mon," Fang encouraged, lightly nudging Lightning in the side. "He's gonna do it whether we go or not, so we might as well be there to make sure he doesn't get us caught or nothing. That, and think of how much fun it'll be to watch him if he screws something up."

"Not diggin' the lack of faith, but tis a good point," Snow chimed in from behind them.

Lightning sighed and rubbed her head, turning to look over both Snow and Fang's pleading faces. She was probably going to end up regretting this… "I'll see if I can get away."

"YES!" Snow whooped, throwing a congratulatory punch in the air.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Fang smiled, watching the big boy's celebration. "Keep yer pants on. And I mean it. No tights. Call me when you're ready to roll, and I'll call Lightning to pass on the details." Fang smiled devilishly at Lightning and wiggled her cell phone in the air after finishing her sentence.

Lightning lightheartedly rolled her eyes before continuing forwards with Snow to his car.

* * *

"Rosch?" Colonel Farron slowed to a stop as he walked through HQ's halls to give his old mentee a handshake. "I can honestly say that I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you would be back in Eden with the Primarch by now."

"Same here," Yaag Rosch replied, nodding his head forward as a way to tell the old Colonel to walk with him. "But it seems as if that glitch in machinery that I was telling you about might not be a glitch after all."

Farron raised an eyebrow. "So then someone on Cocoon has reverted back to using some old form of power?"

"You can say that," Rosch agreed, making a turn down the hall. "In any case, I might need some soldiers from your unit. If this turns out to be as serious as it seems, a manhunt may be in order."

Rosch stopped at the door of a particular office and turned to face Farron, his expression grave. Farron nodded in reply and once again stuck his hand out to bid farewell. "I'll help in any way that I can to get the job done."


	12. Chapter 12

"The city is much quieter than I expected it to be… Almost a bit _too_ quiet, if you ask me," a harshly gruff voice choked out into the night.

"Snow, that really doesn't hurt yer voice when ya talk like that?"

"Overbite! What did I say about using our secret identities?! Call me by my super hero name."

"Snowman?"

"Thank you."

"This is ridiculous."

"Sounds like Colonel Killjoy is ready for another refreshment. Do ya want a juice box or a fruit cup?"

"I can't believe you guys brought a cooler to superhero night…"

"We weren't supposed to? I thought that's what they did on the TV shows."

"No! That's for stakeouts, Fan—I mean, Overbite."

Snow took a step back from the railing that he was leaning against to give Fang a chastising look while Fang tried to hold in a snicker. "Are you laughing at my mask again?" he asked.

Fang silently nodded, her lip quivering as she continued to hold her laughter in. To perfect his superhero persona, the boy had cut two eyeholes in one of his bandanas and pulled it down halfway over his face as a makeshift mask. He seemed quite pissed when Fang had picked them up and he saw that neither girl had prepared as properly.

Nonetheless, he had Fang drive them to the touristy section of Bodhum, which was right near the beach. From there, they set up shop on the roof of one of the popular open-air bar-slash-taco huts in the area. Fang and Lightning currently sat leaning forward on the wide, bar railing that enclosed the roof, their feet dangling over the side while Snow stood against it, watching the activity down below. The multicolored party lights that lined the building gave them sufficient lighting along with a warm glow that perfectly matched the music and fun sounds that rose from the ground.

"You know what the problem is?" Snow asked. Both Fang and Lightning looked up at him with a questioning expression. Each had given him enough shit throughout the night to the point where to keep continuing it just seemed cruel. "We picked a bad area. No one's going to commit any worthwhile crimes at a taco joint."

"I dunno. Look at that guy. White bell-bottomed suit with a shiny red shirt? That's a crime if I ever saw one," Fang chuckled softly, pointing down to one particular man who was trying to coerce a bunch of ladies to dance with him.

Lightning huffed in agreement, watching the man with a disapproving expression. "He does look like he's had a bit too much, though. If you want to be a gentleman, you could escort him away from those women. They look like they don't want to be bothered."

"Super gentleman?" Snow asked in a flat tone. It wasn't until Lightning turned her head to give him a scrutinizing look that he remembered he was trying to court her younger sister. "Sounds like a job for Snowman!"

He leaned over the railing, calculating the distance to the ground before making a face. "I think I'll take the stairs."

"Shout for back-up if ya need us," Fang teased with a soft smile as Snow jogged toward the door.

The door slammed, leaving the two girls on the roof alone. Lightning rested her chin on one of the bars of the railing and looked out toward the ocean. There was something calming about watching the waves roll back and forth, perfectly illuminated by the moon and beach lights.

Fang anxiously eyed the pinkette from beside her, shiftily glancing from her to the crowd below while trying to think of how to word what she wanted to say next. "Superheroes…" she began, leading Lightning's attention away from the ocean and to her instead, "Ya know, if the Guardian Corps did their jobs right, Snow wouldn't have even thought of this. Wouldn't think there'd be a need for superheroes."

Lightning could hear a hint of bitterness in Fang's voice as the she spoke and watched the crowd below, not giving her any eye contact. Lightning leaned forward on the railing a bit to look at the crowd of dancers as well. Snow had successfully pulled the man in the white suit away from the women, but unfortunately (and to the amusement of those surrounding them) had been pulled into an awkward dance with the drunkard instead.

Lightning chuckled to herself. "Right. Because what Bodhum needs is its police force down at a taco tiki to dancing with the drunks."

"You're right. Then who'd they have left to beat up on the young girls in museums?" The tone remained lighthearted, but there was still a small bite to question.

Lightning's brows scrunched as she looked back up to study Fang. The girl's chin rested on one of her arms, which was draped over the railing. One of her legs was tucked into her lap while the other lazily dangled over the side of the building. Her eyes gazed out towards the ocean, and the warm lights that drifted up from the festivities below highlighted her facial features.

Lightning silently took the sight in. She couldn't deny how attractive of a girl Fang was. She was stunning. She would even go as far to say that the foreigner had a natural beauty that outshined a number of the famous fashion models she had seen on the covers of Serah's magazines. No wonder she was so cocky. With looks like those, Lightning was surprised that the whole world didn't bend over backwards to try and please her. Or maybe it did… on her world. Lightning felt a little twinge of guilt at the thought but pushed it aside.

Maybe that was why she kept getting so agitated about the law. If she had been treated the way Fang had, she'd probably have biases against the Guardian Corps too. "They're not all bad, you know," she said quietly. "They do do a lot of good around here."

"Doesn't excuse 'em for all the bad," Fang replied. "Ya know, sometimes I wonder... Do ya think they start off good or bad as recruits? Do they just stay the same or get indoctrinated as they go along?"

Lightning's jaw tightened. This conversation was teetering along a dangerous path, and the worst part about it was that Fang was clueless to it all. If the girl wanted to vent, then fine. Let her vent. But there was no way for her to know that Lightning was training to enter the Guardian Corps and that she was one more snide comment about new recruits away from blowing her patience. Lightning had no choice but to think of a subject changer.

"So we're thinking about going back to the Vestige to look for the fal'Cie near the end of next week."

"So soon?" Fang asked sardonically. There was still that slight bitterness in her tone but at least they were on a subject that both of them could be bitter about.

"Well, we think we should get a few more training sessions under our belts first. It makes no sense going back in there if we're just going to get manhandled again. Snow's getting so confident about it, he's been postponing his and Gadot's party til afterwards."

Fang nodded, not seeming too confident about it herself. "I understand y'all are doing all y'all can do… " She reached up to run a hand through her hair, something that Lightning was starting to notice she did when she was nervous or tense. "I don't mean to push y'all or anything, but I just can't shake this feeling that this focus is a bigger deal than we think, ya know?"

"I know, but we can't let this focus dictate our lives. If we just drop everything, throw caution to the wind, and dive head first into it without looking for any other options, we're doing exactly what the fal'Cie wants us to do."

"Have ya ever thought that maybe that's our best option?"

Lightning let her eyes drift upwards to the dark sky. "Right now, I think it's best if we don't think like that. If it looks like we have the time to build a strategy, then maybe we should use it. Not too long ago, someone told me, 'Slow and steady wins the race, sweetheart.' Maybe she was right."

Fang allowed the hint of a smile to play on her face on hearing Lightning repeat her words from their sparring match earlier. "Must've been a wise person ya heard that from."

"Mm." Lightning hummed indifferently, looking back towards the ocean. "I wouldn't say wise so much as over-chatty. She spouts so much shit during the day that the odds of probability call for at least one thing to be smart."

"Sounds like a bit of an over-exaggeration, don't ya think?"

"Not really. She's always biting off more than she can chew. I think she believes half the stuff she says is true, when most of it is questionable at best."

"I think I get the point now."

"She's also a bit of a narcissist. And a moocher. Quite pigheaded too, while we're at."

"Okay, okay!" Fang interrupted with a chuckle, softly shaking her head.

Lightning felt the workings of a relieved smile playing at the corner of her lips as well. She leaned forward against the railing to continue peering at the sky, looking up at the artificial starring above as silence fell between the two.

Fang leaned against the railing to search the crowd below for the whereabouts of Snow. A soft smile spread across her face when she found him sitting at a table, one leg crossed over the other, conversing and sipping coffee with the drunkard. He probably wouldn't be back up for another while. She then took a glimpse at Lightning, the smile on her face warming at the sight of her staring up so peacefully at the sky.

"Ya know, back on Gran Pulse, the sky was filled will stars every night. Not these artificial ones, but real ones. Hundreds of 'em. It was like looking into another galaxy. And there was a story behind each constellation."

"Sounds interesting." Lightning turned to look at Fang with slightly raised eyebrows. "Did you all make any for the ones here or are they not up to your star standard?"

Fang smirked and gave her a guilty shrug. "They're not as nice, but we've got a few stories. Here, let me tell 'em to ya."

Before Lightning could protest, Fang had slid in closer so that her right side was lightly pressed against Lightning's left. Lightning silently grunted at the intrusion of her personal space. The thought of scooting away quickly crossed her mind but faded just as fast. It could've been the warmth. It could've been the softness. It could've been the faint scent of spices and flowers that radiated from her. Lightning couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but she couldn't deny that there was a certain comfort that she found in being so close to Fang.

"…so that's why that one is The Untied Shoe. And that one right there we call The Drunken Knight." Fang had already begun her storytelling and was pointing to the sky with her left hand, a pleasant expression on her face as she looked upward.

"The Drunken Knight?" Lightning asked with amusement in her voice. "What's the story behind that?"

"Well, see how the stars are pretty evenly spaced going up like that, but then a line of them juts out like that?" Fang leaned in and reached an arm around Lightning's shoulders, pulling Light in closer to her body in order to get a clearer look at the outline her finger was tracing in the sky. "They say it looks like a man poorly holding a sword."

Lightning squinted and slowly nodded. "I see it." She subconsciously moved her shoulders around lightly and scooted in closer, allowing herself to settle more comfortably into Fang's side.

"At first we called it pitching a tent, but the elders didn't think that'd be a nice story to pass along to the younger children."

Lightning let out an audible sigh. A Fang story couldn't really be a Fang story without some random raunch being thrown in it. "Yet somehow you still heard about it."

"Heard about it?" Fang asked in an offended tone. "I helped create it." Lightning shook her head and smiled to herself as Fang scooted closer as well. She let her hand slide down from Lightning's shoulder to plant it on the ground beside the pinkette's rear, leaning her shoulder in and pressing her arm snugly against Light's opposite side as a way to keep her in their light embrace. "Y'all didn't already have some stories for the stars up here, Lightjack?"

"None that I know of," Lightning admitted. Her family wasn't really one that would just stop to stare at the stars. "And call me Light."

Fang's face perked up in surprise. Lightning could sense one of her infamous quips coming along, so she cut it off before the Pulsian had a chance to voice it. "Since you have so much trouble with the whole thing, you can just call me Light for short."

"Light." Fang tested the nickname out, letting it roll off her tongue. "Yea, doesn't really leave much room for error, does it?"

"So it really must be foolproof."

"Heyyyy. Watch it, you," Fang growled playfully, using her arm to press Lightning to her body in a brief, tight squeeze.

Both teens smiled to themselves before quietly looking back up to the sky, still in their embrace…

BRRRRRMMMM! BRRRRMMMMM!

Lightning and Fang jumped at the violent vibration that shook both of them in their hip area. Lightning's face instantly turned pink when she noticed how close the two had been sitting while Fang dug in her pocket to fish out the source of the rumbling. Lightning took this as a good chance to look the opposite way in an attempt to hide the blush that she could feel burning on her cheeks.

When Fang was finally able to wrestle her phone from her tight pocket, she glimpsed a look at the caller i.d.: TAMMY. Her eyes immediately flew up to look at Lightning, but the girl seemed extremely divested in something on the opposite side of the roof. Fang bit the inside of her cheek before looking down at the caller i.d. again and making a snap decision.

Meanwhile, Lightning took a deep breath and turned her head back to face Fang, confident that the color in her cheeks must've died down. It looked like Fang had just finished clicking the ignore button on the side of her phone before shoving it back into her pocket. Lightning looked at her curiously, figuring that it might have been Vanille who was calling. "You didn't have to answer that?"

"Nah," Fang said with a shrug, tucking her knees to her chest and peeping over the railing. "Wasn't important. Only person I really feel like talking to right now is—"

"GUYS! UP TOP! NEED BACK UP!"

"Seriously?" Fang griped as Lightning jumped up to peer over the railing. Still grumbling, Fang pulled herself to her feet as well to look down below.

A group of about three masked men were weaving their way through the dancing crowd below. Snow had yanked one back by the collar of his shirt and slammed him to the ground, but the other two were still making a fast getaway.

"Well I'll be damned, he actually found a crime," Fang laughed with a hint of awe in her voice, staring down at them. "Wonder what they did."

"Fang! Not the time!" Lightning had already started jogging along the side of the building. "We need to catch them!"

"Huh?" Fang swiveled around just in time to see Lightning fly across the gap between the roof of the taco shack and the neighboring building. "Oh."

Fang took off after her, leaping the gap between the buildings as well and glancing to her side to peek over the building and see where the perpetrators were. Her tight jeans uncomfortably rubbed at her thighs as she ran. Maybe Snow had been right about not coming out in 'civilian clothes'. It was getting pretty uncomfortable running around and jumping in these things.

"Jump number two!" Lightning called, pushing off from the edge of their current building and flipping in mid-air before landing on the roof of the next one.

"Show off!" Fang shouted with a grin, making a graceful leap to the next rooftop from behind her.

After another rooftop jump, the two l'Cie found a pole to slide down to get them to the street. It was here that they were able to quickly gain more ground on the men they were chasing.

"Go that way!" one of the men shouted, pushing his partner in a different direction once they had reached an intersection. The man quickly obeyed, rushing off and splitting the team.

"You go after him!" Fang called from behind Lightning, who was burning rubber a few feet ahead of her. "I'll get the other one!" Lightning sped down the turn that one man had taken while Fang turned to follow the other.

Fang had to give the man credit where it was due. He was fast. And agile. He squeezed through pedestrians and weaved through cars on the street without missing a step. It was just unfortunate that the person running after him was just as agile and probably a bit faster.

The man skidded to turn into an alleyway between two buildings and slowed to a stop on seeing a high fence blocking his forward path. Fang was too quick for him to be able to scale it without her catching him and he knew it.

"Alright, pal," Fang breathed, as she slowed into a jog down the alley. She eyed the stuffed bag that he had tucked under his arm. "Ya kinda ruined a moment that I was having a while back, so the least ya can do to repay me is to just hand the goods over without a fuss."

The man stood still with his back to Fang, facing the fence. 'Probably still trying to think of a getaway,' she thought to herself as she strode up behind him.

"Aye, buddy!" She gripped his upper arm to turn him around and was met by angry hazelish-golden eyes that glared at her through the mask. Familiar hazelish-golden eyes.

"What the hell, Fang?!" Dane's voice hissed at her through the mask.

Fang immediately dropped the boy's arm and took a step back in shock, staring at Dane with her mouth slightly agape and a bewildered expression on her face.

"Fang? You down there?" Now Lightning's voice was calling her from the opposite side of the alley.

Dane rolled his eyes exasperatedly and with a grunt, turned to quickly scale the fence. Fang just watched him in silence, listening as the footsteps pounding the pavement behind her grew louder.

"Fang?" Lightning breathed. She slowed to a stop next to the girl, squinting to stare through the gate where she could make out the masked man turning another corner in the distance. "He got away?"

"Uh… yeah. Snow was right about bringing the right clothes. Wasn't wearing my good running shoes and I slipped," Fang stated, turning around to lead the way out of the alley. "Where's yours?"

"Trapped in a dumpster," Lightning replied, glancing curiously over her shoulder in the direction that the man had ran. "Do you think we could head him off somewhere?"

"Nah," Fang replied in a low voice. Lightning guessed that she must've been quite upset on letting him slip away. "He's long gone. Didn't seem armed either, so I don't think he'll be hurting anyone, but if your precious Guardian Corps are on the job, maybe they'll catch him."

Lightning slowed her pace and allowed Fang to march ahead of her. She watched the scraggly head of hair continue to move forward with a disturbed expression before glancing over her shoulder one last time to peer through the fence.

* * *

"See! This was awesome," Snow cheered. He raised his celebratory hot dog in the air while Lightning eyed the loaded thing in disgust. "We should make this a weekly gig! Just for the older crowd. Kickin' ass and takin' names all for the greater good."

"Do NOT confirm me for that," Lightning commanded. She made a sickened face as a glob of chili dropped down from Snow's wiener to hit the pavement. How the boy could even stomach chili so close the hedge-frog fiasco was beyond her. Just thinking about it made her stomach churn. Oh, no... "Can you two wait up for a minute? I have to take a restroom break."

"Sure," Snow said with a smile as Lightning stepped into the nearest shop.

Fang stared after her. She waited until the door had fully closed before quickly turning to Snow. "You've known Light all yer life, right?"

"Most of it," Snow answered nonchalantly. He slowly turned his hotdog around in different angles in front of his face, trying to plan the best mode of attack.

"Okay. So do you know, uh… What's her… What do ya think her interests are?"

"Interests?" Snow asked with a full mouth. He had just finished taking off half the hotdog in one bite.

Fang bobbled her head a little anxiously before giving Snow an impatient look. "You know. Like… d'ya think she'd be interested in, uh, me…?"

"Oh. OHHHHH!" His eyebrows nearly reached his hairline in realization. "INTERESTS! I, uh, I don't really know. I've always kind of thought of her as asexual. Like one day she'd just decide to procreate and pop off a Lightning clone that would be just as pissed off at the world as she is. Why? Have you been trying to put the moves on my neighbor?"

Fang made an exaggerated facial expression of indifferent guilt and shrugged. From the first day of history class, when she had walked in and seen the beautiful pink-haired girl organizing syllabi and handouts at her desk, she had thought that she was captivating. It wasn't until the trip to the Vestige that she had started to wonder if she maybe had a shot with her. However, she also thought that the trip to the Vestige had single handedly killed that dream.

Truthfully, that was the story of every time that Fang tried to get closer to the pinkette. At Light's house, she had simply tried handholding, and it seemed like the other girl was digging it… until she burned her. Then there was earlier today when they had been sparring. The way Light had been staring at her during their wrestling bout sent chills down Fang's spine… until she gave Fang such a horrified look that it made Fang sorry that she had even flipped them over in the first place. And last but not least, there was the "cuddling" on the rooftop. Fang hadn't actually been trying to hold Lightning. It just happened. And amazingly, Lightning hadn't pulled away, caused her bodily harm, or looked at her like a monster. It actually felt like she was snuggling closer. If it wasn't for Tammy…

"Fuckin' Tammy…" Fang mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Snow asked.

"Huh? Oh. Oh, nothing. But, uh, let's just say that I've been trying to read her and I'm a bit confused. I can't tell if she hates me or if she likes me. Seems to be a thinner line than ya'd think..." Fang sheepishly ran a hand through her hair.

"Aww," Snow cooed with a wide grin. "The mighty Oerba Yun Fang is crushing? With all the play you get around school, I didn't think you'd get so nervous about a 'Cocoonian chick'." Snow put air quotes around the last two words. "But as Serah's maybe one day boyfriend and as someone who doesn't want awkward group meetings, please tell me you're not just in this for the booty."

"Nah," Fang said, quickly shaking her head. "It's not like that. Most girls at school only want me as a fling. Rebeling against their Gran Pulse-hating daddies, making their exes jealous, trying something new to brag about so they don't seem so plain type of thing. Lightning… Lightning seems different, like she wouldn't treat me like a tool or a resumé builder. Plus she's got this spirit to her. This spunk…"

"Spirit?" Snow looked at Fang dubiously. "Well, it's better than you saying her positive outlook or cheerful personality reeled you in. Cause then I wouldn't believe you. But as much as it pains me to say," he reached out to rest a hand on Fang's shoulder, "I think you're barking up the wrong tree. I'm pretty sure if she was into girls, Serah definitely would've told me. I think she had actually had a boyfriend late freshman, early sophomore year, and since then she hasn't really seemed that interested in the whole dating scene. Sorry, Fang..."

"Nah, nah, nah. It's okay." Fang forced a smile but couldn't stop her shoulders from drooping. Snow watched, seriously upset that he had to break it to her. "With what we're going through, I shouldn't even be thinking of that kinda stuff anyway. There's a good chance we won't have the time for it."

Now Snow just felt like a dick. Before he could give her any uplifting words of encouragement, Lightning strode back through the door. She slowly looked from Snow to Fang. Both of them seemed eerily upset, Snow especially. "Did I miss something?"

"Nope. Just shooting the breeze," Fang replied, still forcing a light smile that Lightning was easily able to see through. If nothing else, the Pulsian's eyes gave it all away. There wasn't that usual spark to them that was even present when the girl got angry. "C'mon. Let's go grab the cooler so I can get y'all home."


	13. Chapter 13

"Can you at least make it to the basketball game this evening?" Alyssa asked, leaning against the wall of lockers as Lightning dug through her own.

"No."

"But it's your sister's trial game!"

"She personally asked me not to show up to anything until she made the team. Something about my lack of cheerfulness being bad juju." Lightning swung her book bag around to her chest in order to stuff a binder in it.

"Oh," Alyssa replied thoughtfully, curiously rubbing at her chin. "I thought maybe it was because you might be doing something with Fang after school."

Lightning tensed. Alyssa couldn't know about the powers and the training sessions, could she? "What?"

"Well, with you two always running off together during the day and her visiting your house Saturday, I thought maybe you two had made more plans. You know, as yearbook editor I pretty much learn who hangs out with who around this school. Funny thing is, neither me nor anyone else in the editing room have ever seen you hang out with her before. How'd you two get so close all of a sudden?"

Lightning tried to act completely normal while eyeing Alyssa warily through her peripherals. She had to be on to something. "Class work. Sometimes Palmer's essays can be a bitch."

"I see…" Alyssa trailed. She studied Lightning's face carefully before continuing. "Because I was starting to think Fang liked you."

Lightning stiffened once again before letting out a quiet sigh of relief. She hesitated a bit before continuing to place another book in her locker. Alyssa didn't know about the powers or the fal'Cie. She was just being annoyingly nosy. "With the way Fang flirts, it looks like she likes everyone."

"She may flirt around a lot, but the only person she ever gives the 'puppy wanting a bone' look to is you," Alyssa said slyly, eyes still on Lightning's face. A small and victorious smile emerged when she saw the red that quickly tinged Lightning's cheeks and the somewhat flustered expression that she would've missed had she blinked at that moment.

"Maybe your vision is getting a little bit blurred from looking through a camera so much," Lightning replied in a low and even tone. "Fang doesn't look at me any kind of way."

Lightning slammed her locker closed and zipped up her book bag. Alyssa's devilish smile remained on her face as she stood upright. "Maybe. Well, bell's about to ring. See you at lunch, Lightning!"

* * *

Lightning had barely settled into her seat in history class when she heard Fang's voice call from behind her.

"G'morning, Lightqu—I mean, just Light."

Lightning turned her head to see Fang walking up behind her desk, hand pulling at that lone book bag strap over her shoulder. "Fang," she greeted with congenial nod.

The corner of Fang's lip lifted in a tiny grin as she slightly turned her head to eye the person occupying the desk behind Light's. "Craig, mind if I switch seats with ya?"

Craig stared Fang down for a moment with a blank expression. Neither girl was sure of whether he was actually thinking of an answer or just zoning out. Finally, "This is my seat."

"Wellllllllllll," Fang said, dragging the word out, "It kinda was my seat first."

"But you left it."

"Nooooo," Fang dragged this word out as well. "You ousted it. I just want it back."

Craig blankly stared at Fang once more. He turned his head to stare at Lightning for a moment before turning back to stare at Fang again. "I'll move if you lend me a pencil."

Fang narrowed her eyes at the boy. "How 'bout a pen?"

"No."

"Dammit, Craig! The only pencil I have left is my lucky one!"

"The one with the stars?"

"Noooo, not the one with the stars," Fang replied in a snippety fashion. "I had to throw THAT lucky pencil away because you chewed on it when I lent it to ya!" Fang was practically throwing daggers into Craig's heart with her eyes right now.

"I'm not moving without a pencil."

"Grrrrrrrr…" Fang roughly yanked her bag around to fish out a pencil to hand to Craig. In return Craig smiled pleasantly at her before calmly standing up and taking a new seat.

Lightning arched an eyebrow as she turned around to give Fang a quick once over. The Pulsian was slouched in her seat with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, muttering some unintelligible words under her breath. The scene actually looked quite adorable.

The pinkette lightly smiled and cleared her throat, attracting the pouter's attention. "You should probably get your seat back from Craig," she whispered, leaning forward a bit over Fang's desk. "People are starting to get suspicious of why we're spending more time together than usual, which means we should probably start spending more time apart. At least at school."

"Well, too late for that now. Craig's halfway done giving my lucky pencil oral pleasure. I'm keeping this seat." Fang's expression quickly turned pensive as Lightning's comment actually sunk in. "Wait, we're spending too much time together? Who told ya that?"

Lightning let out a sigh. "Alyssa Zaidelle. She saw you coming to my house this weekend. She has this silly idea that we're a thing, but if she starts snooping around, she might find out about… everything. She's painstakingly persistent, so we don't want her sniffing at our trail."

"Oh, uh, hehehe." Lightning quirked an eyebrow as she watched Fang's hand rise to run through her hair, her tell tale sign of nervousness. "Silly Alyssa alright… She would be the one to start causing issues."

"Lebreau calls her the spawn of Satan."

"More like the spawn of chugging forties while standing next to a microwave when pregnant," Fang grumbled. "That girl ain't right in the head."

"Settle down, class!"

Lightning bit back a smile and turned to face Mr. Palmer at the front of the classroom.

"Today, we will start the chapter dedicated to post-War of Transgression Pulse!"

"Gran Pulse." Lightning couldn't stop her smile from breaking free enough to tug at the corner of her lips on hearing Fang silently correct Mr. Palmer from behind her.

"The textbooks are fairly new, but they still aren't fully up-to-date on current events concerning Pulsian relations. So we will start off with the lessons provided in the text concerning the decaying of the resources and atmosphere that turned the planet into an unlivable wasteland and led to the Rescue Evacuation Initiative. Afterwards, we will discuss the living accommodations that Pulsians were provided here on Cocoon, and from there we will move out of the textbook to discuss the more recent events, such as the Pulsian mutinies."

"Ahem!" Fang loudly cleared her throat, garnering a distasteful look in her direction from their teacher. "Not to interrupt, but are you actually sure all of that's true?"

Mr. Palmer stared at Fang with a look of subtle aggravation. "It wouldn't have made it into the history books if it wasn't. Now will everyone turn to—"

"But speaking as someone who was actually there," Fang continued, interrupting Mr. Palmer in the process, "I can definitely tell you that GRAN Pulse was not turning into a wasteland and it most definitely wasn't unlivable. I say that because I LIVED THERE."

"The toxins found were in the food and the air, Fang. Mostly all Pulsians were infected and didn't even know it. I don't know how you can be so skeptical considering the toxins actually did kill most of the population. If Cocoon hadn't stepped in when they did, this would probably be a lesson on how the Pulsians became extinct," Mr. Palmer responded edgily.

"I know what I saw and it makes it hard to believe that "toxins" killed most of Gran Pulse. Y'all call it the Rescue Initiative, but I call it the ransacking and capturing of people. Just like the way y'all call everything a mutiny." Fang leaned forward in her seat challengingly.

"Oh?" Mr. Palmer asked in an amused tone, folding his arms and sitting on the edge of his desk. "Then what would you call a group of ungrateful refugees who wage war in the streets against the same people who saved them from certain demise?"

"I call 'em prisoners who committed no crime that are giving hell to their filthy warden," Fang snapped matter-of-factly.

Mr. Palmer chuckled haughtily and shook his head. "As entertaining as your ideas are, Fang, they have no credible backing and go against everything that has been reported in the news or media."

"Then why don't you take a drive down to my reservation and get some reports from them?" Fang asked.

"Because we need credible sources," Mr. Palmer simply replied, not missing a beat.

"How aren't they credible?!" Fang nearly exploded. Lightning spun in her seat to shoot Fang look of warning mixed with surprise. At first, the questions had sounded like another one of Fang's teasing bouts, but now it sounded as if this was about to escalate into a full out war with Palmer, which the girl definitely didn't need.

Meanwhile, at the front of the room, the corner of Mr. Palmer's lip twitched in a smile. He had gotten Fang right where he wanted her. "Tell me, Fang, how many Pulsians actually are reporters or do any work in journalism?"

Fang froze. She stared at Mr. Palmer with wild, angry eyes for a moment before sitting back. Her eyes never left Mr. Palmer's. "None," she replied in a low growl.

"Aside from the appointed representative who was executed for attempted assassination of the primarch, how many other Pulsians have even tried for a place in government?"

"None."

"How many Pulsians have ever graduated from an accredited college or university?"

"None."

"How many have graduated from a certified high school?"

"None."

"And now how many have ever been enrolled in a certified high school?" Mr. Palmer asked, his eyebrows raised expectantly at Fang.

"Two," Fang mumbled, sinking low into her seat.

"Exactly. So if you would like to be one of the firsts to actually make progress for your people here, I would suggest that you start believing the lessons that you learn in class instead of the bitter folk tales you hear at home. Now we've wasted enough class time with this. Everyone please turn to page 232 in your text!" And just like that, Mr. Palmer carried on with class as if nothing had happened.

Fang stewed in her seat. Her jaw was clenched and her brow tightly knit from the deep scowl plastered across her face. Had she been looking up, she would've seen the concerned look that Lightning had been giving her before slowly turning around to open her textbook.

As Mr. Palmer began the lesson, Fang could feel her blood start to boil again. It was nothing but biased lies that he was indoctrinating Cocoon's future with. Just teaching another generation how to look down on the people of Gran Pulse. Her branded upper arm began to throb and her face began to heat up. She couldn't sit in here anymore. She had to get out. Her hand shot up in the air, causing Mr. Palmer to slowly fade out his words to give her an irritated look.

"What now, Fang?"

"May I be excused to the restroom?" she asked through gritted teeth, eyes still boring into her desk instead of looking up.

Mr. Palmer stared at her as if she had just asked the dumbest question in the world. "No, you may not. Class just started. You should've gone before the bell rang. Now as I was sayin—"

"I WILL PISS IN THIS CHAIR." Fang stated defiantly in a loud voice, removing her eyes from the desk to fiercely glare at the teacher.

The room went quiet, except for a few hushed snickers. Mr. Palmer gaped at Fang incredulously and Lightning turned in her seat to eye the girl as well. _What are you doing?_

"Fine," Mr. Palmer ground out. "You may use the restroom. Just be aware that you will be joining me for detention afterschool no matter what Coach Reeves says."

Fang mumbled something under her breath as she pushed her chair out.

"Fang…?" Fang barely heard Lightning whisper her name. The girl was looking up at Fang with concerned and questioning eyes, but Fang just shook her head and strode out of the classroom, not even attempting to shut the door gently.

Her arm, the arm with the brand, was still throbbing and burning more fiercely than it had been earlier. Fang slowed her angry steps in the hall to a stop and leaned her forehead against a locker. She tried taking deep breaths. She couldn't understand. She had faced prejudice before, prejudice much worse than this… but she had always been able to keep her cool. Never let 'em see her sweat. Nowadays, it was as if even a funny look would start getting her blood pumping.

Fang let out a slow, heavy sigh, and placed a palm against the locker next to her head. She could settle back down. Walk back into class all composed and collected and whatnot. Give the beautiful pink-haired girl who would never be interested in her a flirty wink to show her that everything was indeed normal. Then sit down and continue to listen to Mr. Palmer slander her people…

"No."

A sudden hot flare shot through her upper arm, traveling down to her hand and causing her to clench a fist. Not being able to control herself, the girl angrily struck it against the locker. She felt a little better, but it wasn't enough. She let out a deep growl and beat on the locker again. And again. And again, and again, and again, angrily pounding on it like a drum.

"OUGH!"

Fang's head kicked back and her chest thrust outwards as all the wind seemed to rush from her system. Her body trembled and her eyes strained as both her chest and arm now throbbed in synchronized pain. It almost felt as if some invisible person had reached down her throat, not stopping as it traveled down to her chest to roughly grip her heart… and squeeze. Another painful ache shot through her chest.

_Gunfire._

_Shouting._

_Crawling. Jumping. Leaping. Flying?_

_Soldiers. All around. Soldiers._

_Pain._

_A blizzard. _

_Roaring._

_Old man. Faces. Faces. So many faces…_

_Destroy._

_DESTROY._

**_DESTROY._**

Fang gasped for air and dropped to her knees as her muscles relaxed all at once, leaving her slumped forward with her head now leaning against one of the lower lockers. She continued to take in loud, heavy breaths as she tried to process what had just happened to her. Did she just have another vision?

She finally forced herself up and away from the wall of lockers when her breathing had almost slowed back to a normal rate and the burning in her arm had subsided. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw what must have been her handiwork. Two completely mutilated locker doors lightly swayed back and forth through the air, barely hanging on their hinges. The surrounding lockers on the wall were also badly bent and caved.

Fang raised both of her hands to run through her hair as she got to her feet. Someone had to have heard her bashing those lockers in. She had to get away from the scene before someone thought to walk in the hall to check. The trip to the Vestige really wasn't coming soon enough if it was so easy for her to lose control like this...

* * *

Lightning watched Fang cautiously as they unpacked their supplies from her car at the training field. The ride had been quieter than expected, probably because of that huge elephant in the back seat concerning the instance in history earlier that day. Fang never did return to class from her bathroom break. And although Mr. Palmer didn't seem to care, Lightning couldn't help but worry after seeing how distraught Fang was when she left.

She wouldn't see Fang again until the end of the day when she picked her up from the gym for the drive here. Fang was as easygoing and charming as she usually was, and if not for the big 'I know what you did last history period' cloud that hovered over them, everything would've seemed relatively normal.

Even though Fang seemed as if she didn't want to talk about it, Lightning felt that something probably should be said. The only problem was, she had no idea how to go about it. She never was good with the whole talking things out and helping people with their feelings deal. Nevertheless, she couldn't shake this weird urge to want to comfort the raven-haired girl in some sort of way. She felt as if she couldn't help much with words, but she wanted to do something. Maybe just reach out and touch her, hoping that some type of unspoken energy could pass between the two to make up for it. Rub her shoulder, hold her hand…

It was actually a bit embarrassing. When Lightning first saw Fang walk into the gym, something swelled up inside her, making her quickly stride right up to the girl. Her instincts were yelling for her to wrap her arms around the Gran Pulsian and bring her in close, but her mind screamed for her to stop, causing her to come to an abrupt halt only a few centimeters away from her. Fang had given her a curious look and immediately asked if something was on her face, not waiting for an answer before vigorously rubbing at her chin while Lightning took a nervous step backwards, feeling her cheeks grow warm again.

Despite it all, Lightning took a steadying breath and quietly cleared her throat. "Fang… what happened earlier today—"

"Don't worry about it," Fang quickly cut off, not looking Lightning's way as she dug for something in the glove compartment of the car.

Lightning gave the other girl a disturbed, sideways look. "But you seemed pretty upset…"

"I was pretty upset," Fang stated matter-of-factly. She stood straight, pulling her upper half from out the car to glance at Light. "But I'm feeling better now. So no big deal." She formed a quick, close-lipped smile as if to drive her point home before letting her face smooth out again. "Is your weapon in yer bag?" she asked, now opening the back door of her car.

"Uh… yeah. It is." Lightning still felt a bit of concern for her training partner. After seeing how worked up she had gotten earlier, she wasn't sure if it was an issue that could be dropped and thrown over her shoulder so easily. "Where's yours?"

Lightning watched as Fang pulled a javelin that had been maneuvered in the back seat from out of her car. "Oh." Her hand was in her hair again. "This is it."

Lightning raised her brows in surprise, her worry over the outburst in history being overrun by curiosity of Fang's chosen 'weapon'. "Your track javelin?" Surely she had to be joking. The schools name was even stamped to the side of it.

"Well, back when I was a tyke, I started my hunting training with spears. But once I moved here, it kinda got hard to get my hands on one. This was the next best thing." Fang lightly tossed the javelin up and down in one of her hands. "The school doesn't even know that I take it home with me sometimes. And as long as I keep winning, I'm pretty sure Coach won't even care."

Lightning only nodded in understanding while she pulled her own weapon out of her bag. Fang took a step closer to study it. Her brows crinkled a bit in confusion, not exactly sure to make of the thing. "Is it something you throw at people's heads?" she asked, scratching the back of her neck.

Lightning smirked and made a flicking motion with her wrist. Part of the weapon swung outward, transforming the object into a medium-sized blade. Fang looked at it in awe, having never seen anything like it before. "Nice…" she said, bobbing her head up and down.

"It's a practice weapon my dad got for me. It compacts for easier travel but can easily convert into blade form." Lightning turned her hand slowly, showcasing the weapon to Fang with pride. "And if I ever feel like someone's not close enough, then I guess yes. I can throw it at somebody," she added playfully.

"Too bad it's not half gun. Then whoever you're pissed at would really be in for some trouble," Fang chuckled. "C'mon, let's put these down for now and do some warm-ups before we get to it. Race ya to the tree?"

"Which tree?" Lightning asked, looking around at the multitude of trees that surrounded the clearing.

"Those who question training, only train themselves in asking questionssssss!"

Lightning turned her head to the direction of Fang's voice in surprise. The Gran Pulsian had already started sprinting down the field. Lightning lightly smirked to herself and took off right after her.

* * *

"So how did sparring with Lightning go?" Vanille asked excitedly, bounding up to meet Fang as she exited the now parked community car.

"Quite the workout," Fang yawned, stretching her muscles. "More intense than my track practices, for sure. She's all yours tomorrow though."

"And Snow's all yours," Vanille returned brightly.

"Joy to the world," Fang grinned, pulling Vanille close to her side to lean on as the two walked back in the direction of their trailer.

As they moved, Fang slowed her pace on seeing Dane roasting something over the main fire pit. "Uh, Vanille… Why don't you go ahead on inside. I need to talk to Dane about something personal."

"Personal?"

"Taller people stuff," Fang clarified jokingly, roughing up Vanille's hair. "No shorties allowed."

"Heightist…" Vanille huffed, but she still pleasantly obeyed.

Fang smiled after her, allowing her smile to die down after Vanille had disappeared into their trailer. She turned to face Dane. His front was illuminated by the fire and his eyes were steadily staring at the roasting animal. Taking in a short and resolute breath, Fang began making determined steps in the boy's direction.

"Hey, Dane," she greeted in a low voice, taking a place next to him to also stare into the blazing pit.

"Hey, Fang," Dane returned.

Silenced settled between the two for a moment, the only noises being made by the chattering of elders outside their trailers, the chirping of night bugs, and the crackling of the fire.

Fang tried to piece together an elegant and non-accusatory way to go about phrasing her next sentence, but after awhile just mentally said, 'fuck it.' "Since when did you start running around the city playing like the damned masked avenger, pulling off heists and shit?" She turned her head away from the fire to face Dane. The boy's still expression had not changed as he continued to watch the flames.

"Ever since we stopped qualifying for medical assistance," he calmly replied.

Fang had already formed her next retort but it fell short on hearing Dane's answer. "Stopped qualifying for medical assistance? What do you mean we stopped qualifying for medical assistance? When did that happen?"

Dane shrugged. "Couple of years ago."

"Couple of—what? That's a crock of bull, and you know it." Fang crossed her arms disbelievingly and shook her head.

"No. No, it isn't," Dane replied, his calm tone never shifting. "A couple of years ago, we stopped qualifying for assistance because of claims that we've had enough time to acclimate to Cocoon and its customs. Said they're aware that we have our own healing customs so we don't need much assistance anyway, despite the fact that our immune systems have no experience in fighting certain Cocoon sicknesses. In order to be eligible for assistance again, at least to able to afford the high powered stuff, we have to prove ourselves as good enough contributing members of society."

"Prove ourselves as contributing members? How?"

"By getting certain jobs that'll qualify us." Dane turned the spit.

"You mean the jobs that won't hire any pure Gran Pulse borns?" Fang asked, slightly quirking an eyebrow.

"Those ones exactly," Dane nodded.

Fang placed her hands on her hips and stared into the fire in thought. "Nah, that can't be right. Vanille came down with that really bad case of that weird flan flu last year. Aid helped us qualify to get that really expensive medicine to help get her better."

Dane shook his head and pointed a finger to his chest. "Aid."

Fang quietly stared. The thought that they weren't officially getting medical assistance anymore wasn't as surprising as the thought that Dane was the one providing it for them. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Dane shrugged. "You were off integrating that Cocoon school, being the great Pulsian hope and stuff. I knew you'd do it if you could help Vanille, but I couldn't risk getting you caught. That'd mess up anyone's chance of getting in that school after you and finally getting some hope of making it in this society. Better if you didn't know."

Fang felt her stomach clench. She never really did think too much about the impact that her enrollment might have on everyone else. When she and Vanille were first told that they'd been chosen to integrate the school system, there was a lot of talk about change for the better surrounding it… but after time had passed, it had all settled down. "So that bag you were carrying… Was that money or medicine?"

"Medicine. From one of the smaller family clinics near downtown. They're easier to break in and clear out."

"Clear out? Dane… that's someone's livelihood. You could upend somebody's business. And small places like that, that medicine might belong to somebody who really needs it."

"We really need it," Dane replied firmly, turning for the first time to look Fang in the eye. "Vanille really needed it. Willow always needs it. On this world, they've made it very clear that it's either them or us. Sorry if I decided to choose us on this one." Although his tone stayed level, Fang could see the fierce look that had filled his eyes. She couldn't even think of a stronger argument aside from "it's wrong" to tell him. Hell, if she had known about all of this when Vanille was pale and bedridden with that flu, she would've done the same thing without thinking twice about it.

"Look, I understand what you're saying but can ya just chill out with the Robin Hood act for a few weeks? Or at least give me a heads up when you're gonna do it so I can be more prepared?"

"Why?" Dane turned back to the fire. "So you can go off and play Sheriff Nottingham with your Cocoon friends?"

"Dane, it's not like that. Etro…" Fang raised her hands and interlocked her fingers behind her head, staring up at the sky for a moment before focusing back on Dane. "Look, just… I need ya to just hold off for a while, okay? If anyone feels like they need something we don't have, tell Vanille about, okay? She's been getting good at her, uh, medical remedies."

Dane didn't answer but continued to stare at the fire. Fang let out an exasperated breath and reached out to give a hard slap to Dane's upper arm with the back of her hand. "Okay?!"

"Sure," Dane finally answered, turning his head for a brief moment to give Fang a stern look.

"Good." Fang nodded contently, although she still felt shaky about the subject. "Shit…" With that, she shook her head and started walking back towards her trailer.

* * *

Lightning sat at the island in her kitchen, attempting to read a book while Serah happily skipped around the room singing. "I made the team! I made team! Ohhhh, what a dream! Cause I made the team!"

"Could you relocate this party elsewhere?" Lightning asked, raising her head from her book with a tired expression on her face. The sparring session with Fang earlier that day had pretty much worn her out to the point where she wanted as much relaxation as possible. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the girl was much craftier with a school javelin than one would expect. It made her part relieved that tomorrow was her training day with Vanille so that she could get a break but at the same time part disappointed that they couldn't go at it again. "I can't hear myself read."

"Awww, you look so grumpy…" Serah cooed, leaning in close to Lightning's face. "This sounds like a job for a CERTIFIED cheerleader!" With that, Serah did a little jump kick in the air and continued her song.

Lightning groaned and glanced up to the ceiling. "Etro, why have you forsaken me?"

"Hmph! Well, if you're going to be like that, then I just might take my party elsewhere," Serah shot with a smile, dancing out the kitchen while pulling her phone out of her pocket to call her friends.

Lightning watched the back of her sister's head as she cha-cha'ed out of the room. A quick smile flitted and dissipated on her face before she looked back down to her book. Almost as if that smile had shot firecrackers and tooted a blow horn in its mini-second of existence, Serah froze in her tracks and took long backwards strides back into the kitchen until she was at Lightning's side again. "I missed something," she stated, raising a finger to the air.

"What are you talking about?" Lightning asked, once again having to tear her eyes away from the pages of her book.

"I missed something. You've been smiletening much more than usual lately." Serah took a seat at the island next to Light and rested her chin in her palms, swinging her legs and giving Lightning a wide smile. "So what happpeeennneeddd?"

"Nothing happened."

"You're happy… ish. Something had to have happened." Serah leaned forward closer, giving her sister googly eyes.

"You made the cheerleading team and I'm free from Alyssa Zaidelle. I'm ecstatic. So beat it." Lightning raised her book to block Serah's face from her view.

"I'm not buying it. You were happier than usual before I even told you about making the squad."

"How would you know? You entered the room singing about it."

"Good news takes at least five minutes to sink in with you!"

"I'm going to my room." Lightning pushed her stool away from the island and stood up.

"Aww, look! You're even smiletening now! Has anyone ever told you that you could be on one of those modeling shows?" Serah asked playfully as her sister walked to the door.

Without turning around, Lightning raised her hand to give Serah a flippant wave. "You go 'head, lady! Smile with those eyes! You look fierce!" was the last thing Lightning heard before ascending the stairs.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, guys. As always, thanks for the feedback! It's greatly appreciated! And so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to prolong the inevitable here, I just want to let y'all know that there won't be too much more stalling before V-DAY comes around (I also apologize for not finding a more clever way of referencing Vestige trip 2.0). Moves will be made... Games will be played... And hopefully all the grammar/spelling will be correct when it happens.


	14. Chapter 14

"AUGHH!"

Lightning bolted straight up in bed, her hand clutching her breast. Her entire body trembled as she took in deep gulps of air. In all the time since the trip to the Vestige, she had never had such a vivid dream about the fal'Cie's images. Just like in the ones before, she remembered there being gunshots, lightning bolts, and a snowstorm, but there was something much different about this dream… and it had everything to do with that giant monster.

Usually all the images would come to her in quick flashes, but for some reason tonight was different. Her images brought her to a huge room. She wasn't alone; there was a multitude of others in the room with her. Shouting. Running. Fighting. She felt as if she had been struggling herself. These sorts of details of the dream were already fading fast, for she couldn't tell what she had been doing that made her feel like she was exerting such energy… but there was one thing that did stick out clearly in her mind from the vision. That loud roar that started off sounding like a pained cry before forming into a deep bellow. The whole room beginning to shake. Then suddenly, being face to face, no more than an inch away from the monster, staring into its wild, angry eyes. Although it was just a dream, she swore she could feel its hot breath against her face and an enraged heat emanating from its body…

She ran a still trembling hand over her face before peeking down to look at her chest. Her other hand still rested against her shirt, over her brand. She grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand to check the time. It was a little past three in the morning, meaning Serah should be sound asleep.

Lightning slid the phone into her pajama pocket, and with light steps, hopped out of bed and carried herself to the bathroom, making sure to lock both doors. She then immediately peeled off her shirt and unhooked her bra, letting it drop to her feet.

Her breath froze as she stared at herself in the mirror. Curling out from one of the top corners of her brand was a new, curvy arrow.

Lightning could do nothing but stare. Her body felt numb. She didn't know when she had started breathing again, but in the mirror she could see her chest quickly heaving and she could hear the loud huffs escaping her lips.

She wasn't exactly sure what to do… what to think. She had been warned that this was going to happen, but there was always a difference between hearing about what may happen to your body and actually seeing it; she wasn't sure if she would have ever been prepared for this. Part of her wanted to silently dress, creep into Serah's room, and sleep in bed with her sister for the night like Serah had done for a month after their mother's death, but that would cause Serah too much alarm. Nonetheless, she felt like she needed something, or someone, to help ease all of her anxiety.

She took a deep breath and pulled her phone from her pocket. She quickly scrolled down to a specific number and called. She didn't waste any time hovering over the contact or thinking about whether or not this was a good decision because she didn't want anything to dissuade her from dialing. However, with each unanswered ring, more and more of her conviction started to fade away.

Until the fifth ring…

* * *

Fang could hear the loud buzzing sound of her phone vibrating against imitation wood on the other side of the bed. By the second ring she willed herself to force her eyes open. She hadn't really expected any calls tonight, or she might've thought of sleeping on the side of the bed with the makeshift nightstand instead of the side against the wall.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang released a deep breath and slowly began to turn. Vanille's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist while the rest of the younger girl's body was curled into a ball against her back. Ever since she was young, the Dia had always been a contact sleeper, and Fang couldn't help but pray that whatever man she ended up marrying down the road wasn't a skinny one. Although Van was small, she had an iron clamp grip in her sleep; she could probably snap a poor, stick figure man in half... Trying her best not to wake the sleeping redhead, Fang slid herself up while gently peeling Vanille's hands away from her sides. In response, Vanille made an aggravated grumbling sound, and retracted her arms, turning away to face in the opposite direction.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang made a move to lean over Vanille to snatch the phone from the wooden plank, but her heat-seeking missile of a best friend reached up to pull the Yun back down to her chest, cuddling her to her bosom like a teddy bear. "Van!" Fang hissed, planting her hands to the bed, one on each side of Vanille's slender frame.

The phone vibrated again.

Fang quickly yanked her body upward. Vanille's sleep-grip was strong enough to carry her up for halfway of the ride, but the grip eventually gave way, causing the redhead to drop back down to the bed with a muffled snort. Fang let out a tired breath and reached to snatch the phone off the makeshift nightstand. She then flopped back down on the bed while simultaneously closing her eyes. On cue, Vanille instinctively curled back into her side, resting her head atop Fang's shoulder as the older girl groggily answered her phone without even looking at the caller i.d.

"Mmm… 'ello?"

"Fang?"

Fang's eyelids flew open again on hearing the shaky voice that called her name on the other end. "Light? S'that you?"

"Uh, yeah…" Lightning answered quietly, her voice still sounding a bit unsteady.

"Everything alright?" Fang rubbed her eyes and continued after Lightning's last response had trailed into a moment of silence.

"I'm not sure."

Fang stiffened and slowly tried to raise herself up on her elbows without bothering Vanille. "You didn't lose control of your powers or anything, did you?"

"No."

"…there isn't some body that needs to be disposed of somewhere, is there?"

"No, it's nothing like that but—"

"Fanngggg," Vanille moaned, lifting her head from her best friend's shoulder and attempting to glare at her through drowsy, half-lidded eyes. "No phone calls in bed. Out."

Light's end of the phone remained eerily quiet for another few seconds. "I'm disturbing you… I… I shouldn't have called. I'll just talk to you later—"

"Nah, nah," Fang quickly interjected. She forcefully shoved Vanille's face into her pillow as she climbed over the other girl to exit the bedroom area. Once the older Pulsian had left, Vanille groaned and quickly snatched the pillow to curl into a tight ball with before drifting back into slumber land. "It's totally fine. Vanille's perkiness usually wears off after daylight hours is all. What's on yer mind?" Fang yawned and took a seat on the sofa, leaning forward on her elbows and staring at the dark window of the trailer door. She wondered what time it was.

"Oh… okay." Another pause. "My… my brand changed. Another arrow popped up."

Fang lifted an eyebrow and turned her shoulder to take a peep at her own arm. Sure enough, a new arrow had formed and sprouted from her brand. She leaned forward to peer into the next room at the dark lump she knew to be Vanille (who now seemed to be burrowed in a ball beneath their blankets) and wondered if hers had changed as well. "Whaddya know… Looks like mine got a new addition too. Kinda heavy realizing that the stories are actually true, huh?"

"Yeah…" Lightning breathed, starting to sound a tad bit more relieved already, which made Fang feel a little better despite the situation. "I'm staring at mine now. Even with the powers, things never really sunk in. Everything's just starting to feel realer now, you know? Like we actually are on a time limit, and our time is running out."

"Then it's a good thing y'all are going back to the Vestige this weekend," Fang gently reminded, running a hand through her hair. "I'm pretty sure if the fal'Cie gets a second look at Snow, he'll realize there's a huge flaw in his recruitment methods and set us all free."

Once again, Lightning's side of the line was silent. Fang forced an uneasy chuckle, nervously wishing she could take back the failed joke that had just crashed and burned so badly. "But really, Light. We're all gonna get through this alright. I promise."

Fang heard Lightning release a pent up breath. "I hope so," she responded. "I can't take anymore sleepless nights. How bad do your visions get?"

"Hm. I guess they're bad when they come, but they don't come often." To be honest, aside from when they first got branded and her little tirade in the hallway over a week ago, Fang hadn't suffered with the visions at all. "How bad are yours?"

Lightning took another deep breath before telling Fang about the dreams she'd been having ever since the Vestige and how they had been intensifying, going into specific detail about the particular one that had woken her tonight. Fang just patiently listened and tried to give some interpretations on what it could mean in connection to her focus. By the end of the talk, Lightning had indeed become more settled about the entire situation.

"So ya sure you're okay? I could drive over there and keep ya company... if ya want." Fang offered meekly as they started to wrap up their conversation.

"No, that's alright. I don't usually do these types of conversations and all, but this… this really helped. I think I'll be able to get some sleep now, and I wouldn't want to pull you away from Vanille…"

"If you say so. Soo… guess I'll not be talking to ya in school today then?"

Lightning had technically been freed from bondage with Alyssa Zaidelle for over a week, but due to the fear that the class president would curiously go snooping around in her business, Lightning had decided to continue to hang out with the girl. When explaining it to Fang on one of their sparring days, she simply said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." On the other side of this spectrum, because of Alyssa's budding curiosity about their relationship, Fang and Lightning made sure to avoid each other during most school hours and Fang had to be especially wary when driving into the neighborhood after their training sessions.

"I've still got you after school tomorrow, though," Lightning said, referring to their scheduled sparring session.

Fang faintly smiled at Lightning's choice of words. "Yes, you do… But before ya go, can I ask ya one last question?"

"What's that?" Lightning unsurely answered.

"When you were looking at yourself in the mirror… can ya describe exactly what ya saw? And please. Be very detailed."

Fang smirked. She could practically hear Lightning's lips pursing through the phone.

"Seriously, Fang?"

"What? Can't I wanna have vivid images in my dreams tonight too?"

"Goodnight, Fang," was the simple, terse response she received to her question.

"Night, Light." Fang smiled as she hung up the phone. She turned to enter her bedroom and froze in the doorway. All the covers and pillows had been practically stripped off the bed and wound into a tight Vanille cocoon in the middle of the mattress.

"Aww, fuck me…" Fang mumbled, lightly hitting her forehead with the bottom of her palm. She turned around to walk to the bathroom, wondering if towels could serve as decent makeshift blankets.

Meanwhile at the Farron household, Lightning felt much more at ease as she stepped back into her dark bedroom. She slid underneath her covers and reached for an extra pillow lying near her. She wrapped her arm around the pillow and dipped her head to lean against it. As she snuggled against the soft cushion, she closed her eyes and tried to think of more comforting and reassuring thoughts. When sleep finally began to overtake her, her mind was clouded with images of a certain dark-haired classmate.

* * *

"So what did you get?" Lebreau asked, leaning over to look at the card held between Lightning's index and pointer finger.

Lightning puckered her lips to the side to make a disinterested looking face before lifting the card for Lebreau to get a closer look at it. "Social worker, Elementary school teacher, and librarian," she droned in a dull voice. The two stood in the crowded school auditorium, surrounded by classmates and promotional tables with employees of different companies and professions.

"They pegged you as a school teacher?" Lebreau laughed, pulling Lightning's wrist forward to bring the card closer to her face. "I don't know how they come up with these Career Day predictions."

"It's probably because I put down babysitting as a work experience on that questionnaire," Light responded with a shrug.

"Well, if they had talked to the kids first and found out they call you Fascist Farron behind your back, then maybe they'd have sent you in a different direction."

Lightning chortled lightly and shook her head, taking back her card. Lebreau couldn't help but smile as well. Something had been different about Lightning for the past few days. She seemed much less broody. At first Lebreau thought it had something to do with being off the Alyssa Zaidelle hook, but Lightning had resumed spending time with the hoity toity class president only a day or two after being freed… so it had to be something else. Lebreau's next guess was that Lightning might be getting laid, but then again she didn't want to jump to astronomical conclusions. "But seriously Light, you don't find it a little disturbing that all your career choices mirror some of the most popular porn roles?"

"And of course!" Alyssa's high-pitched voice cut through the air. Lebreau rolled her eyes and sighed. Speaking of the class president devil… "On the day that the junior class comes together to explore their possible future professions, Lebreau is talking about porn." Both Lightning and Lebreau turned to greet Alyssa, who approached with her two friends, Erin and Stacy. "But it is so unfortunate that there isn't a table for that set up in here, Breau-Breau. We have such a diverse class, we can't cater to everyone's needs. Something you'll probably learn not too long after getting in the business."

"Don't worry. I'll just stop by your place and ask your mom for tips about it after school," Lebreau returned with a tight-lipped smile.

"Funny," Alyssa dismissed flatly before turning to Lightning. "So what professions did you get?" Lightning handed Alyssa her card and allowed the girl to quickly scan over it before handing it back. "Aww, Lightning, those are such romantic jobs!"

"Teaching elementary school kids is romantic?" Lebreau wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You really are your father's child."

"It figures that you would get such noble careers," Alyssa continued without paying Lebreau any mind.

"Anyone get it? Cause her mom's like fifty years younger than her dad?"

"I, myself," Alyssa began proudly, placing one hand to her chest and using the other to hold her card outwards for all to see, "was given fashion magazine editor, modeling agent, and boutique owner."

"Okay. Maybe fifty years was a LITTLE bit of a stretch… but it has to be forty at the least. Sperm that old, it's kind of a wonder Alyssa wasn't born looking like Yoda."

Lightning just nodded vigorously while trying to put on an interested face. It was hard enough dealing with Alyssa by herself, but when Lebreau was around warring with her, it just got tiring.

"You know what I bet would be really interesting, though?" Alyssa's eyes cut down so that they were slightly narrowed. "Finding out what's on Fang's card." With that, the girl turned her head to look over her shoulder. Lightning hadn't even noticed that Fang had been walking down one of the aisles near them, looking at all the titles above each career table. "I didn't even expect her to come to school today, but I'm guessing it's only right to let everyone participate."

Lightning watched Fang through soft eyes as she remembered how patient she had been with her on the phone earlier that morning. Meanwhile, Fang continued to walk along the aisle, looking both ways to study each table that she passed with a thoughtful, somewhat serious expression on her face. She was totally clueless to the fact that there was a group of girls staring at her from the back of the auditorium.

"What do you think, Lightning?"

Lightning's head snapped away from Fang and towards Alyssa as she was jolted back to reality. "What's that?"

"Aren't you curious about what they put on Fang's card?" Alyssa smiled innocently at Lightning as she asked the question. Lightning wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or what, but it seemed as if most of the conversations she had had with Alyssa for the past few days always ended up including Fang. Who Fang had recently given her number to… Flirtatious lines she had told a specific person in class… Who she had been seen getting touchy feely with after school… Some of the conversations, Lightning knew to be just rumours because she had been spending so much time with Fang afterschool, but others did make her wonder about where her training partner would go and who she would be talking to after dropping her off home. She felt her stomach uncomfortably churn at the thought, but tried not to let it show on her face. Just like she felt as if Fang was always being brought up in conversation, she always felt as if Alyssa would stare at her during these convos.

"I'd be curious," Alyssa's friend, Stacy, spoke up. "I sit next to Tammy Bridges in English, and all she's been doing this week is yammering on about how Fang's going to teach her a bunch of exotic Pulsian 'techniques' this weekend while her parents are out of town. So I guess at least now I'd have my own Fang story to tell her in English."

Lightning's stomach twisted a bit more. She could feel Alyssa's eyes on her again, making her much more uncomfortable than usual. "Then let's call her over," Alyssa cheerfully suggested. "Fang! Ohhh, Fang!" Alyssa called daintily. Fang continued to peruse the aisle obliviously. Alyssa let out an exasperated sigh. "FANG!" she yelled in a louder, gruffer voice.

Fang looked up from near the end of the aisle, where she had picked up a pamphlet off of one of the tables. Her brow scrunched skeptically at Alyssa when she noticed who had called her, but lightened a tad when she saw Lightning standing with her. She turned to give a few words to the man standing behind the table before cautiously walking over to the group.

"Hi, all," she greeted pleasantly, eyeing down Alyssa and her two friends before turning to Lightning and Lebreau. From her body language, Lightning could tell she was still trying to figure out why Alyssa would be calling her over, and didn't blame her one bit for being so apprehensive about it.

"Hey, Fang!" Alyssa beamed. "How's it going? Are you enjoying Career Day?"

"It's alright," Fang answered with a shrug. "Beats going to class."

"Do you mind if we take a look at your career options?"

"Don't see why not." Fang reached into her back pocket to pull out a crumpled index card and hand it over to Alyssa. "I haven't really been paying much attention to what's on my card though. I've been tryna work my way around the room and just learn about the professions that sound interesting from there."

"That's not how it's supposed to work, Fang," Alyssa informed without looking up from reading over Fang's card.

"Well, I didn't exactly like my choices," Fang replied in explanation.

"What were your choices?" Lightning asked, folding her arms and tilting her head.

The corner of Fang's lip twitched up in a partial smile when her attention turned to Lightning. "Well, let me break 'em down to ya." She cleared her throat dramatically before continuing, "After extensively going over the skills and experiences outlined in that oh so pleasant questionnaire we were given in homeroom, this prestigious institution decided that with my exemplary knowledge of Cocoonian history, my Etro-given gift of dealing with numbers, and not to mention my hotty toddy rockin' body…" Fang paused to wink at Lightning who let out a comical huff in return, "…the jobs best suited for me are in the areas of garbage disposal, dead animal pickup, and sewage sanitation. Oh, the wondrous doors that are opened by education… What'd you get?"

"Librarian, social worker, and elementary school teacher."

"…sounds like a porno lineup."

"Exactly what I said!" Lebreau agreed ecstatically.

"I'm surprised. I would've guessed they'da given ya something like GC or PSICOM officer."

Lightning's brows furrowed in curiosity. "Why? Because of my dad?"

"Uh…"

"Hmm. None of these jobs require you to know how to read," Alyssa pointed out, disrupting the other three's conversation to hand Fang's card back to her. "Surprising."

"Oh?" Fang averted her attention to Alyssa again. She had already mentally prepared herself for all the bull-crap she'd probably have to take from everyone today, so she was ready to roll with the punches while throwing some of her own. "And what are your careers?"

"Fashion magazine editor, modeling agent, and boutique owner," Alyssa answered with the same pride she had when she first read it to Lightning and Lebreau. "I think it might have a lot to do with the spreads that I create for yearbook and the…"

Fang immediately stopped paying attention to Alyssa and lightly nudged Lightning in the side with her elbow. She turned her head slightly to gain eye contact with the pinkette before grinning and slowly rolling her eyes, looking in Alyssa's direction before bringing her eyes back to Light. Light partially grinned back, softly bobbing her head and letting her eyes float to the top of her lids to display her disinterest in the subject as well. Neither action went unnoticed by Lebreau, who watched the two with a knowing grin of her own.

When Alyssa had finally stopped talking, Fang just nodded, a smug smile on her face. "So that means all your jobs require good fashion sense, right?" Fang made a show of slowly roving over Alyssa's clothes with her eyes, wearing a displeased expression on her face as she did it. "Surrr-prising."

Lebreau snorted in trying to hold back her laughter while Alyssa glared at Fang distastefully. "How much time did you actually spend at your careers' tables, again?"

"Not much. The garbage disposal folk are the only ones here. Thus another reason for the roaming."

"Well, you're getting in the way of people who actually have a chance of going into these jobs, so do you think you could maybe find something better to do with your time? Maybe you should go out on the yard and start picking up trash. It'd be good practice."

"Alyssa…" Lightning took a step toward the other girl, thinking she had gone too far. The memory of Fang storming out of history class over issues like this was still fresh in her mind, and she didn't want to see it happen again. However, she was halted by the tan hand that quickly shot out and pressed against her stomach, stopping her from going any further.

Light's eyes travelled from the tanned hand and up the arm until she was staring into a pair of deep emerald eyes. Fang gave a quick, bashful smile before swiftly removing her hand from Lightning's midsection and turning her head to face Alyssa again. "Nah, nah. You're right. Just cause I don't have reason to be here, doesn't mean I should stay and cause anarchy… much like your choice of blouse and skirt. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the hallway singin' folk tunes and witch doctorin' up the joint so no mo' bad trash fall into them parts."

Fang raised a hand in goodbye and looked over everyone's faces, lingering on Lightning's for a milli-second longer than everyone else's before taking her leave, loudly humming a spiritual tune as she left.

"The nerve of her…" Stacy began.

"She should just be happy that they even included her in Career Day," Erin backed up.

As Alyssa and her two friends continued to bicker about how out of line Fang had been and how Alyssa's outfit did not clash as bad as the Pulsian had insinuated, Lightning quietly excused herself from the group. She looked around cautiously as she walked along the back wall of the auditorium until she had hit the opposite corner. This corner was pretty much devoid of people, its only occupants being a bunch of empty cardboard boxes that had once been filled with brochures but were now piled carelessly into the corner.

Lightning took a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling. Directly above her was one of the auditorium's fire sprinklers. She took one last look around to make sure no one was watching before setting her gaze back up to the sprinkler.

"Concentrate…" she said to herself, deeply exhaling and facing her palm upwards toward the ceiling.

There was no immediate response.

She took another deep, albeit quicker, breath. She tried to relax, thinking of how much better she would feel if she pulled this off. Sure enough, her hand tingled in that familiar way and she could feel a wave of relief coming along as that tingling feeling quickly surged through her chest, down her arm, and out her hand. A small fireball spouted upwards from her palm and flew directly to the ceiling, hitting the sprinkler dead on.

A loud hiss suddenly filled the room as the sprinkler head popped out and started to shoot out water. Screams and groans then filled the auditorium as every single fire sprinkler in the huge room opened and began spraying water to the crowd below. Lightning smirked contentedly at the sprinkler above her as water poured down and plastered her bangs to her forehead. She was now satisfied with her Career Day.

* * *

A loud clanging sound rang through the air as javelin connecting with metallic blade. Lightning gritted her teeth and ducked down, simultaneously swinging her weapon around to attack Fang at a different angle, but ever so quick with her spear, Fang was able to turn and block the attack. Lightning jumped back, swiftly spinning, dodging, ducking and striking, but nearly every time, her weapon was batted away by the javelin.

Lightning had to admit that at first she was unsure of whether Fang would be a good sparring partner. The girl didn't behave like someone who had been disciplined well enough in battle to hold their own against her and, well, her weapon of choice was a school javelin. However, their sparring sessions were much more taxing than some of her formal trainings had been, and both of the girls were learning a lot from each other because their techniques were so different.

"Yield?"

Fang's javelin was raised upwards to the air while the tip of Lightning's blade poked Fang's belly. Fang looked down at the sharp tip prodding at her stomach before eventually nodding.

"Yield."

Both teens retracted their weapons. Fang wiped her head with the back of her hand. "Whew-Ow!" She grimaced and tried to look behind her shoulder, but couldn't see anything. "How sharp is that blade? I think ya might'a got me somewhere." Fang turned in circles, looking somewhat like a dog chasing its tail, trying to peer at the mark she felt on the backside of her shoulder.

Lightning let out a tired breath at Fang's antics and grabbed the top of her shoulder to stop her from spinning any further. "Hold still and let me see." She turned Fang around and took a sharp inhale, making a hissing sound at the ruby red slash that decorated the back of her t-shirt.

"Can ya see it? Is it bad?" Fang questioned, still trying to peek over her shoulder.

"Looks like it's bleeding a bit," Lightning answered. "And stop trying to turn like that; you're making me nervous. Does it hurt when you raise your arm?"

"Stings. A lot." Fang hiked her shoulder and made a face as she tried to place the pain somewhere on the Richter scale. She must not have felt it much during their sparring from all the adrenaline, but now it was bothering the hell out of her. "Can't ya just heal it?"

Lightning lightly tapped Fang's elbow to signal her to turn back around. She then nodded her head to the direction of Fang's car, where most of their supplies had been piled onto the closed trunk. "I'm still having problems controlling some of my powers, remember? Medical ones especially. It'd probably be more helpful if I just cleaned it off here for Vanille to heal later."

"You sure ya just don't wanna give it a go? Practice makes perfect."

Lightning had already reached the trunk and was rifling through her bag. She pulled out a towel and tugged lightly at the bottom of Fang's shirt to pull her closer before lightly placing a hand on her side to turn her. Fang held a soft, goofy grin on her face the entire time. "I don't want to mess up and accidentally electrocute you or something. Who'd be able to heal you then? Your shirt's in the way."

"Ya make a good point," Fang agreed. She and Snow would usually strength train right after everyone else would practice for magic, meaning that Fang would be able to sit and watch the end of their sessions during those days. Although Lightning was getting much better at using her powers, it was obvious that she was still having some troubles with consistency. Fang pulled her arm out of her shirt and lifted half the garment up to rest on her shoulder, immediately feeling Lightning press the towel onto her wound afterwards. She smiled, turning her head in an attempt to deviously catch Lightning's eye. "And then what excuses would ya have to get me to take my shirt off? Aahhh!"

"Whoops." Lightning said casually after squirting a bit more peroxide than was necessary over Fang's cut. "Now lift your arm a bit so I can get the medical wrap around."

To be honest, nowadays she wasn't really as scared of hurting Fang with her powers as much as she used to be. When they had first started training with each other, she noticed that she'd usually get those weird sensations, those feelings of going out of control, mostly when she was near Fang. They would still pop up now and again when they were having an intense workout or when they got too close, sometimes even when Lightning caught Fang just staring at her in one of those Fang-like ways… but for the most part she felt more comfortable and at ease when she was around the dark-haired girl now.

Lightning patted Fang's side once again when she had finished wrapping the wound, allowing Fang to try to survey the bandage as best as she could. "Not bad," she said, nodding her head in approval. "But I'm still not sure how comfy I am about you going to face a fal'Cie without being able to control your healing powers."

"You should be comfy enough," the Cocoonian replied. Fang studied Lightning as she started packing the wrap and other supplies away. She still seemed so uptight and Fang couldn't really help but worry about her. "Hope has enough power to heal the three of us simultaneously if something goes wrong, and we don't have enough time to prolong the trip any longer with more training." Lightning paused from the packing for a brief moment to stare Fang earnestly in the eyes. "I'll be fine."

"I know. I've been wanting this to happen for so long, and now that it's two days away, I'm gettin' the jitters. I just worry about ya, is all. Wish I could go in with y'all."

Lightning felt her cheeks warm a bit at Fang's words as she zipped the supply bag up. "After what happened last time, this seems like the best situation. Besides, this gives you more time to plan your own agenda this weekend." Lightning's voice started growing quieter as she continued. "Like how to teach someone certain exotic Pulsian techniques…?"

"Like what?" Fang's head popped up in confusion. "You're the one that pulled the elementary gig at Career Day, remember?"

"Yeah… Just a thing I thought I'd heard from Alyssa and them." Fang continued to watch Lightning with a puzzled expression. Lightning took a quick moment to glance at Fang and wave the conversation off. "Forget I said anything."

"Okay…" Fang drug out, before slightly smirking to herself. "I still can't believe ya set off all the fire sprinklers in the auditorium cause of them."

"Not just because of them," Lightning replied with a heavy shrug before looking up at Fang again. "You don't deserve to get picked on like that by some bitchy teenager girls, the school administration, or some dumb career questionnaire."

"Because that right's only reserved for you, huh?" Fang joked lightly.

Lightning just stared blankly at Fang for a second before shrugging again, this time making a smug face of acceptance. "I think I've earned it."

"Heh... Well I appreciate the thought and all, but like I said last time. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" Lightning's expression twisted into one of slight disbelief. "So you'd rather I just sit back and let people degrade you like that?"

"No, I'm just saying I'd rather ya didn't get involved with it all." Fang stated as if it were the most reasonable answer in the world. "What? You're the one who said we should stay clear of each other's business at school. So it's okay for you to try and protect Gran Pulsian dignity when you're in the mood while the Gran Pulsian isn't even allowed to wave at ya in the hallway? A bit one sided, don't ya think?"

Lightning exhaled heavily out her nostrils. "Fang, it's not like that and you know it. Us not talking is a precaution."

"Then let's even it out. If I can't talk to you when I wanna, then I think it's only fair that you stop worrying yourself about what the people who freely talk to me say. Is that really too much to ask?"

Light had no idea why Fang was being so difficult about this, but whatever. "Fine. From this moment on, you can change my superhero alias to Dr. Don't-Give-A-Shit." She raised her hands in the air to make an 'it's out of my hands' gesture before picking up the supply bag and striding over to the back door on the passenger side of the car.

"That's all I ask," Fang replied, taking the hint and walking to the back door on the driver's side. She lifted her eyes cautiously to peek at her visibly agitated training partner from over the vehicle. "And ya know, for the record, I just want to clarify that the whole you picking on me thing was just a joke, because as a strong, confident, and fearless Gran Pulsian woman—"

"Unlock the doors."

"Yes, ma'am."

They loaded their supplies and weapons into the back of the car in silence before settling into their respective seats in the front. Lightning stared forward through the windshield with her arms crossed, a stale look on her face. Fang just sighed and turned the car on. She let the engine rumble a bit before reaching forward to turn the radio on, wanting something to cut the tense silence inside the vehicle.

Fang guessed that one of the older adults on the reservation had used the car radio's last, because the car was suddenly filled with the soulful voice of some woman crooning about being such a fool for her love… It sounded good but it was a bit sappy, and its timing was damn near comical. A smile crept to Fang's face just thinking about it. Still leaning forward with her hand on the radio's dial, she peeked at Lightning in the passenger seat.

Lightning head was turned to look down at the radio interface as well, a tiny smirk tugging at her lips. She must've realized how unbefitting the song was to the moment too. When she caught Fang's eyes staring up at her, she just let out an airy snort, shaking her head and letting her smirk widen. Fang silently chuckled and turned the volume up in response before putting the car in drive.

"Such a foooool… for yooouuuuu," she quietly mumbled along with the woman on the radio as she drove the car onto the dirt path leading out of the clearing with a faint smile on her face.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for taking so much longer than usual to update. I wasn't really feeling the lack of plot movement in this chapter, so I kept putting off editing it, hoping some new ideas would come to me. I finally decided to just go with it because it works as a good segway for the next chap (which should be up once I get a little more free time for editing). As always, hope y'all enjoy!**


	15. Chapter 15

Lightning coughed for what felt like the millionth time into her balled fist. Her eyes stung and she could barely see anything through the thick smoke that clouded the inside of the room. Worst of all, it was now starting to burn both her nose and her throat when she breathed, which was perfectly understandable because at this point Lightning was sure that overly-fragrant smoke had singed all of her nose hairs.

"Ohhhmmmmm…" a high pitched voice hummed from somewhere nearby, its owner's body successfully cloaked by all the smoke. "Ohhhmmmm… C'mon, Lightning! Now what are you supposed to be saying?"

Lightning rumbled, trying her best to clear her throat for a few seconds before attempting to speak. "I'm-" the first word was choked out, "going to kill Fang."

"No! Don't say that! Murder plans are complex and elaborate and take your concentration away from the task at hand! Try something simpler. Like an 'ohm'. Or maybe an 'ahm'. It helps clear the mind!

Lightning audibly growled, partly from being pissed and partly from still feeling the need to clear her throat. Apparently Fang had gone home and bothered Vanille about Lightning's medic abilities still not being up to standard. Vanille had already forbade any of the l'cie from training after school today, saying that they needed to rest up for the Vestige tomorrow, so as a compromise, Vanille had stolen Lightning away during lunch for an 'incense therapy' session in the janitor's closet.

"For Etro's sake, Vanille, I can't take this anymore," Lightning blurted, barreling forward through the smoke in hopes that she was moving in the right direction towards the door.

"Lightning, wait!" Vanille called as the door flung open and smoke spilled out of the room.

Lightning heaved in a huge gulp of fresh air before leaning on her knees and roughly coughing it out. Footsteps approached followed by a gentle hand patting her back. "So I guess it didn't work, huh?"

Lightning turned to peer at Vanille over her shoulder, her eyes ablaze with a look that screamed, 'Are you kidding me?!' "Yeah, Vanille, I think it's safe to say it didn't work."

"Well, I guess that's alright. I've been working on some herbal remedies with the elders back on the reservation. If you think you'll need any for healing, just in case, I'd be happy to give some to you!"

"Thanks for the thought, Vanille." Lightning slowly rose into a standing position. "But I think I'm covered on the help for now."

"Okay! Well here. Since I made you miss so much of lunch, let me at least buy you something from the vending machine!"

"No, Vanille, that's al-riighhhttt!" Lightning was immediately thrown off guard by Vanille grabbing her hand and yanking her down the hallway in a jog.

* * *

Out on the yard, Fang laid with her arms folded behind her head across one of the smaller lunch tables, her legs bending and swinging over the sides. She usually ate lunch with Vanille, but due to the emergency medic training session that Fang had talked her into conducting, she was left alone on the yard. Eating took much less time than usual since she didn't have to entertain Vanille as well, so she just decided to relax for the rest of the period.

"Fang?"

The Pulsian's head turned to the side to take in the short, silver-haired boy who was about eye-level with her since she was lying on the table. "Hope? I didn't know you got to school this early. What can I do ya for?"

"Uh… nothing really. I just wanted to talk. Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Not at all," Fang answered, rising so that she was now sitting straight up on the table with her feet planted on the bench below.

Hope nodded his head nervously and sat on the bench a little bit away from her legs. Fang watched with a bit of amusement as he quietly began pulling his lunch out of a crumpled brown paper bag. "So how are classes going?" he asked, sheepishly glancing up to look at Fang's face.

"Meh," Fang congenially answered with a shrug. "They're goin' somewhere. Where, I can't exactly tell yet. But they're goin'."

"Oh. Okay." He looked down, racking his brain for something else to say before lifting his head up again. "What about the weather?"

Fang crinkled her brow and gave him a critical look. "Alright, you. What's goin' on?"

"Huh?" Poor Hope looked like a deer caught in headlights. "What are you talking about?"

"Hope, you're a smart kid. So seriously? How's the weather?"

Hope's expression slid from surprised to embarrassed. "I guess there's no point in beating around the bush with you. Fang, are we… friends?"

Now it was Fang's turn to look like a deer playing chicken with an eighteen-wheeler. "What? Course we are. Did ya think we were nemeses?" Although, she wouldn't put the thought past him. For someone who didn't even look like he had hit puberty yet, he got awfully territorial over Vanille.

"No, no. It's just that we practically hang out every day after school and whenever you and Vanille walk with me to my last period class, I don't get picked on or shoved into lockers or anything… And with us going to the Vestige tomorrow…"

Fang let out a soft sigh as she began to understand what he was getting at. "You're afraid that we won't talk to each other anymore once all this is over," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he nodded, looking like a guilty puppy dog with his lowered head but uplifted eyes.

"You don't have anything to worry about, kiddo," Fang reassured him with a smile. "The worst thing that could've happened to you lot on that field trip is that ya got stuck with us... and for a long time. Whether ya like it or not. And trust me, it feels like it's all sugarplums and rainbows now, but our company wears on ya after awhile."

Hope tried to smile with her but he still didn't look convinced. "Do you mean that or are you just saying that because of how things are now? You don't think anything will change once we're free? Like you and Lightning," he turned his head around. As if on cue, Lightning and Vanille stepped out of the cafeteria together. A pleasant feeling washed over Fang on seeing Vanille's mouth moving a mile a minute with Lightning standing next to her, a tired expression on her face.

"What? Ya don't think me and Strawberry Shortcake would still be friends? Look at her over there. She loves us."

Hope looked to Fang unsurely before taking a peep back in Vanille and Lightning's direction.

Lightning's face looked as if there were no greater hell than the one she was currently standing in.

Hope's eyes soon landed back on Fang, asking for an explanation. Fang noticed this as well and quickly covered, "Does it count for anythin' that that's usually as happy as she gets anyway?"

"It's just that we don't do anything with you two besides training stuff. What's going to keep us together when that's done? You and Lightning seem to spend the most time together out of everyone, but you don't even talk to each other in school. When would we all hang out when this is over?"

"That's only because she doesn't want people to get suspicious," Fang excused. "What reason would she have to wanna avoid me after all this is over?"

Hope just gave her a sad look that Fang was able to read immediately. There were a number of reasons why someone would try to avoid her during school, especially someone who had climbed the social ladder as quickly as Lightning had. Fang anxiously rubbed the back of her neck. She was still coming to terms with the reality that Lightning wouldn't want to be anything more than friends with her. She wasn't sure if she was ready to accept the possibility that being friends was too much to ask for as well.

"Hope," she said seriously, tearing her eyes away from her best friend and crush to look at the younger boy, "I promise you. When this is all over, we'll still hang out. I'm sure there are some things we can find in common to do together besides beating the crap outta each other in a desolate field."

Hope lightly smiled at that and nodded his head slowly. "I hope so."

Across the yard, Lightning rubbed her temples as Vanille relentlessly talked her ear off. "…so everything should be good in that aspect. This is your table here, isn't it? Guess I should just skedaddle along and leave you with your friends."

Lightning let out a deep breath of gratefulness. "Thanks, Vanille. And I really did appreciate the effort."

Vanille just gave Lightning a sweet smile as the two happened upon the table where Alyssa was sitting with her friends and a few guys from the basketball team. As Lightning took a seat, Vanille continued to walk.

"Hey! Vanilla!"

Lightning's head shot up and snapped to the opposite side of the bench where Alyssa sat. Vanille stopped walking and turned to give Alyssa her attention as well. She looked around and over her shoulders before looking back to Alyssa. "Me?"

"Yes, you!" Alyssa giggled with a wide, excited smile.

"Alyssa, what are you doing?" Lightning asked in a low voice.

"Nothing. Just admiring Vanilla's choice of clothing today. What is that thing wrapped around your waist?" Alyssa leaned forward on her elbows, her smile widening even more as some of the other teens at the table snickered.

"This?" Vanille lifted the pelt that she had decided to wear over her skirt today. "It's a bear pelt. I killed and skinned it myself."

Lightning mentally groaned and dropped her head into her hands as more teens around the table started to chuckle and feign interest. "Oh, really?" Alyssa crooned excitedly. "That makes so much sense! I thought you may have gotten it off the floor from some elderly man's bachelor pad, but seeing how shaggy chic it looks on you, it makes so much more sense that it's something you ran down and killed." More snickers erupted around the table. "What about that necklace you're wearing? It's so thick, it almost looks like a choke collar."

"Oh," Vanille's face looked a bit lost as she tried to process what Alyssa was saying. Nonetheless she put on a polite smile and nodded along with slight enthusiasm. "Thank you. And no, it's not tight enough to choke me."

"I bet not…" Alyssa tapped her chin deviously, thinking of what next to say. "You know, I am so inspired by your wardrobe, would you mind if I take a picture of you? I'm editing a page just for fashion in the yearbook, and I think you would be great for one of the main shots."

Vanille's face lit up with excitement. "Oh, that would be—"

"Alyssa, would you chill out?" Lightning interrupted, finally raising her head from her hands. She knew that Fang didn't want her 'meddling' when it came to people talking down to them, but she was sure that this didn't count. Hell, at this point she didn't even care. She wouldn't let Vanille fall prey to Alyssa without even knowing that she was being made fun of.

"Whatever do you mean, Lightning? I just think that Vanilla's unique sense of fashion should be showcased," Alyssa looked to Lightning challengingly while Vanille glanced between the two with a confused expression.

"Will her spread be showcased right under yours for unique haircuts?" Lightning asked, raising her eyebrows. "Because the style is very spherical chic. If I may ask, which brand of salad bowl do you use to shape it?"

Alyssa grimaced as the teens at the table now started laughing at her expense, some of the guys even 'oooh-ing' and whispering agreement. Lightning gave her one hard glare before standing up. "I'm going to see what Lebreau is up to. Vanille," she made sure to loudly and clearly annunciate the girl's name correctly, "you should probably get back to your table."

Alyssa watched Lightning walk away with dark, vengeful eyes.

* * *

Vanille made her way to the table that she usually shared with Fang and was pleasantly surprised to see Hope sitting there as well, laughing at a story Fang was animatedly retelling about trying to catch a pet microchu and accidentally waking a large mama ochu in the process.

"Vanille!" Fang greeted with a smile when she had finished. "How'd the aromatherapy thing go?"

Vanille shook her head, pulling a sandwich from her bag. "Not too well. I think you might be right about the whole stressing too much thing. She's really uptight. She even got upset when your class president offered to do a spread on my clothes for the yearbook."

One of Fang's eyebrows shot up. "Say what about a yearbook spread?"

"That girl, the kinda snobby one whose yard we walked into when we were looking for Lightning's house? She starting asking me questions about my bearskin pelt and then asked if she could write about it in the yearbook. Then Lightning said something about her having a unique hairstyle and told me to come sit by you. I think the stress is really getting to her…"

Fang's face quickly transitioned from expressions of curiosity to ones of anger then understanding. She looked past Vanille to shoot an angry glare in the direction of Alyssa's table. Bitch… She then scanned the yard to find Lightning, who was sitting with Lebreau and peering in Fang's direction as well. The girl knew they were talking about her and was studying Fang for a reaction. Her face looked guilty but at the same time unapologetic.

"Vanille, if Alyssa ever asks about taking pictures of you again, politely tell her to fuck off, okay?" Fang instructed, pulling her phone from her pocket. She pounded out a quick text message and looked back across the yard. Sure enough, Lightning was looking down to her lap and reaching for the phone in her pocket. "Excuse me, you two," Fang said, still watching Lightning as she hopped down from on top the table. "I'll be back in a jiff."

Fang walked straight through the yard and into the school building, not stopping until she reached the freshman English classroom. This was the class that her track coach taught, and she knew that he always left school midday because he didn't have to teach during the period after lunch. Fang took a seat on top the teacher's desk in the front and waited.

Lightning entered the room, perfectly on time, five minutes later. Fang didn't even have the opportunity to open her mouth to speak before Lightning had already started talking, something wholly uncharacteristic in their relationship. "I know you said that I shouldn't help you guys out or whatever when people talk down to you and stuff, but I couldn't just sit back and watch that. Alyssa was totally out of line and Vanille thought they were complimenting…"

As Lightning talked, Fang just watched. Lightning's body was tense and she had a fiery look in her eyes as she continued to state in a commanding tone as to why she wasn't sorry for sticking up for Vanille and how she would gladly do it again. Fang's eyes slowly roved Light's body as she started pacing, still quickly rattling on about how Alyssa deserved it. She really couldn't think of a time where she had been more turned on by the Cocoonian. It was taking most of her self-control right now to stop herself from grabbing the girl by the waist, pushing her up on one of the desks, and catching those lips with her own to silence her…

"…so if you're going to be mad, then so be it," Lightning finished, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she waited for Fang's reply.

Fang's head quickly lifted and her eyebrows perked up when she registered that Lightning had stopped talking and that the girl was now staring at her with an impatient, hiked eyebrow.

"It's kinda funny, ya think?" Fang finally let out as chuckled breath. Lightning now raised both eyebrows in questioning. Fang just shook her head with a soft smile and continued. "That ya told Alyssa off by talking about unique haircuts." Fang raised a finger to point at Lightning's own interesting hairstyle.

Light's eyes narrowed and she shifted her weight to one side. "Says the girl whose arch rival is the comb."

Fang laughed to herself. Lightning grinned as well as and let her eyes drop to the ground, seemingly relieved that Fang hadn't called her in here to fuss at her. Then why had she called her in here? Lightning looked back to Fang with a puzzled expression. Fang knew exactly what she was thinking. "You don't have anything planned after school today, do ya? There's something we need to do before y'all go to the Vestige."

Lightning crinkled her brows. "I thought we weren't supposed to train today."

"It's not training," Fang stated, sliding off the desk to stand in front of Light. "Although it could be seen as an exercise to help ya out. Besides Snow's superhero nights, all we ever do together is train. It'd be nice to do something different for a change, don't ya think?"

Lightning didn't answer but stared blankly at Fang instead, processing the information. Fang just watched her expectantly. Just thinking of Hope's conversation with her outside was making the suspense of waiting for an answer almost unbearable. "Okay. Where are we going?"

Fang smirked as a huge wave of relief washed over her. "You'll see."

* * *

"It's pretty," Lightning commented, staring out at the lake that she and Fang stood along the bank of. Fang had parked her car a bit of a hike away, taking a bag out of her trunk to carry as she led them through the woods to this destination. Lightning studied the area in silent awe. It was so peaceful…"What are we supposed to do here?"

"Well," Fang began as she removed the bag on her back. "There's this lil' exercise I thought might be kinda good for ya." She dug a hand into the bag and pulled out a worn-looking boot with some type of gadget melded to its sole.

Lightning's face took on a puzzled expression as she reached out to take the boot from Fang. She slowly spun it in her hands, studying the thing but not knowing what to make of it. "What is it?"

"Something I kinda constructed," Fang answered, pulling the boot's counterpart from her bag. "Well, with Maqui's help, of course. See that thingy-majig there on the bottom? That's a mini-hover pad. I got it from my, uh… Shit, what in the hell would I call him? I guess my Sazh's place and I got Maqui to find a way to attach it to some shoes."

"So if you wear the boots, you should be able to hover off the ground?" Lightning asked, looking up to Fang for confirmation.

"Exactly," Fang nodded. "With our powers, we definitely have enough strength to control the force of it, but it still takes a lot coordination and stuff to handle without busting yer ass." Fang pulled out another pair of boots from the bag.

"A coordination exercise…" Lightning trailed, taking the second boot into one of her hands.

"At first it'll be," Fang clarified. "It doesn't take long to catch on to, though. So after that, it'll just be a relaxing exercise. Get ya to loosen up a bit, Tighty."

Lightning gave Fang a dull look. "Watch it, Oerba. I'm not against shoving this boot up your ass and letting it 'hover' there for awhile." She then pulled the tongue of one of the boots up to survey how funky the inside of it might be.

"Oh, how I love it when ya talk dirty to me…" Fang chuckled before grabbing at the bottom of her shirt to pull it over her head.

"Whatever, Fan—" Lightning's eyes grew the size of saucers when she looked up from the boots to get a full on glimpse of Fang's toned torso, muscles stretching as she lifted her arms to pull off her shirt. "What are you doing?"

When Fang had finally gotten her head out of her shirt hole, she looked at Lightning curiously. "What? Once you get the hang of how to use the boots, we're gonna be hovering out over the water, so there's a chance we might get wet. I don't have a change of clothes, and it's too long a ride to wear wet ones to drop ya off home. If ya don't have any extras, I'd actually suggest you do the same."

Lightning just stared. She hadn't expected this when she agreed to hang out with Fang after school, and Fang didn't seem to be shy about stripping down to her sports bra and boy short underwear at all. Lightning just shook it off. This should be just like changing in the locker rooms for PE, shouldn't it? Then why did it feel so… different? Apprehensively, Lightning began to strip down as well so that she was left in a tight tank top that only reached down to right above her belly button, bra, and undies.

To say that she was blushing was an understatement. She could feel her whole body flushing as she stripped. She didn't even have the courage to look over in Fang's direction yet. She didn't know if she was prepared to face any of the girl's usual sexual innuendo when she was feeling this exposed. So instead, she bent over to start strapping on the hover boots.

A few feet away, Fang quietly stole glances in Lightning's direction. She was trying her best not to stare too much at Lightning's slender, exposed legs or that tight butt whose cheeks peeked out from the bottom of her bikini-cut underwear, or even her lower midsection, where she could make out the bottom creases of the girl's abs. Snow had warned her about getting herself into the 'danger zone' with being around Lightning so much while harboring feelings for her, but she didn't think it'd be such a big deal until now. She let out a pent up breath before taking a seat on the ground to put her boots on too.

Meanwhile, Lightning finally gathered enough confidence to chance a look in Fang's direction. The other girl sat with a determined face, tying her boots; it didn't even look like she was planning an inappropriate joke in her mind. This put Lightning a little more at ease, so she allowed her eyes to slowly roam and study the Pulsian's body as she sat. She didn't know if it was something normal to feel about the sitting position, but she found something weirdly sexy in the way Fang's back curved and her finely sculpted stomach muscles bent as she leaned forward to tie her boots. It was even more alluring how her tight boy shorts slightly rode up as she bent her knees, revealing more and more of those shapely thighs…

WHOA. Lightning quickly bit her tongue and flicked her eyes upward. Now her eyes landed on Fang's inked upper arm. She had noticed Fang's tattoo the first day the two had spoken, but had never really asked about it. "Hey, Fang? What's your tattoo supposed to be of?"

Fang's eyes lifted from her boots to land on Light, brows raised. "Hm?" Her eyes then moved to rest on her arm. "Oh. Back on Gran Pulse, some clans take a lot of pride in the skills and trades they're best known for. So when a young'in perfects a trade or completes a task related to it, it can sometimes be considered as them entering adulthood. My clan, the Yuns, are known for being great hunters. It wasn't really long before the Initiative happened, but I killed my first behemoth and was able to get a tattoo for it. Vanille's the one who actually designed it. See here? That's supposed to signify the jaws of the behemoth. And these pointy things down here? Those signify the heads of a spear. Usually some folk just get the outline of the animal or their weapon. This one right here was considered the sickest Yun tat in Oerba."

"It is pretty badass," Lightning agreed, studying the tattoo a bit more critically now that she knew the back-story. "But weren't you kind of young when the evacuations started? And aren't the behemoths the really big dogs? How'd you pull that off?"

"Heh…" Fang's eyes dropped to the floor as she chuckled to herself and reminisced. "I was out with a big hunting party, just tryna get a feel for it all. No one was expecting to run into anything bigger than a goblin, so of course we ran into a behemoth. Everyone attacked and told us kids to fall back. I wasn't exactly too privy to the idea so I ran after them. Chucked my spear back and let it fly. The adults had whooped the behemoth's ass damn near to a pulp by then, but it was still my spear that delivered the final blow. The elders wanted to argue about the legitimacy of labeling the kill as mine, but soon came off it."

"Being hardheaded, going against authority, and throwing things… All this story's missing is you making a comment about the behemoth's ass, and it'd be quintessential Fang."

"Who says I didn't?" Fang returned with a sly grin.

Lightning smirked and shook her head lightly in disbelief. "What about the scratches on your other arm? I don't remember them being there before the Vestige trip. Where'd they come from?"

"A different hunting trip." Fang finished tying up her last boot and planted a hand in the ground to lift herself up. Lightning just gave her an uncomprehending look. "In the, uh, prison, there was an animal control problem that the guards wanted me to investigate. Just got a couple of scratches from it. Funny thing is, it's when I first noticed my powers."

Lightning silently nodded. Her expression had slowly transformed from puzzled to sympathetic. Fang figured that with her dad's position in PSICOM, she knew enough about procedures to understand that there was no good reason for Fang to be near any animals in the prison. "Mind if I take a closer look?"

"Uh, sure. Go ahead."

Fang took a few steps closer and turned for Lightning to get a better view of her arm. In her stripping, she had taken off the nylon sleeve that usually covered her brand, leaving it exposed. "Why didn't you get Vanille to heal you?"

A small shiver ran up Fang's spine as Lightning's fingers gently grazed the roughed skin. She slowly gulped before answering, "I thought they looked kinda cool. It'd be kind of nice to have something besides a cheap behemoth kill to signify I'm a hunter…" Fang turned her head to watch the Cocoonian, who stood staring at her arm with her brows creased, still tenderly rubbing over the marks. Fang felt a painful tug to her heartstrings as she watched the other girl. The way that Light was looking at her, touching her… maybe she was getting too far into this danger zone. "Erm!" Fang uncomfortably cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulder away from Light's hands. "So yeah! We should probably get started. Think you're ready?"

"Yeah," Lightning answered, finally looking up from Fang's arm and taking a step back. "So how do these things work?"

"I think they have some sort of force or pressure switch or something. So ya pretty much turn them on by hitting them together at the heels."

"Clicking the heels together? You're joking, right?"

"Serious as sin," Fang said, slightly grinning when she realized how cliché the on/off mechanism really was. "But here," she reached out to grasp Light's forearms and nodded her head down in a motion to encourage Lightning to do the same. "It's gonna be a bit of a shock when you first start 'em up. It helps if ya have something to hold on to… if ya know—"

"No." Lightning quickly cut off whatever dirty direction that statement was heading in as she reached out to grab Fang's forearms as well. "Okay. Ready."

"So together on the count of three. One... Two… THREE!"

Lightning slapped her heels together and immediately felt her feet shoot off from the ground and wobble in the air. "Ahh!" she gasped, teetering a few inches above ground and feeling as if she were about to lose her balance.

Fang, who had had much more practice in the boots, winced. She steadily hovered across from Lightning, but once they left the ground, the Cocoonian's grip on her arms had tightened to the point where she just knew she'd be bruised afterwards. "Just settle down a bit, I've got ya," she soothed, trying to get Lightning's attention back to her.

Lightning gazed down at the ground below her, seemingly amazed by it all, before looking back up to Fang. "This is unbelievable," she practically whispered. "What next?"

"Well, next ya try moving in 'em. So I'm gonna skate backwards a bit and I just want ya to follow me. Okay?"

"Okay," Lightning nodded, her eyes bright with an excitement that made Fang warm up with enthusiasm as well.

So slowly, Fang trailed her left foot backwards, then her right. Lightning slowly did the same, but moving forward in Fang's direction instead. After each step, Fang worked to make bigger strides with Lightning trying to match each one, teetering just a bit now and then and tightening her grip around Fang's arms when she did so.

"You're going too fast."

"Nah, you're doing perfect."

"No, no, I think I'm losing my balance!"

"It just feels that way. It'll all wear—woah!"

"Ahhh!"

Lightning had indeed lost her balance. One of her hover-technology propelled feet flew forward from under her, causing her to fly back in panic despite the firm grip she had had around Fang's arm. Foolishly, Fang lunged forward in an attempt to catch her, but was met by Lightning's boot flying upward into her stomach. "Ohhhh…." Fang groaned, grabbing her stomach and doubling over as Lightning's back crashed into the dirt, her feet still hovering off the ground as the rest of her body lay flat against it.

"Oh sweet giblets," Fang wheezed. She had clicked her heels to turn her boots off and was now leaning over, still tightly holding her aching midsection. "You alright?"

"Physically or spiritually?" Lightning's voice floated from off the ground. She felt more than a little embarrassed by what had just happened. Fang forced a chuckle and took a few more breaths before straightening out and helping Lightning to her feet to get back at it again.

* * *

Fang lagged behind as she levitated over the lake's surface, watching from a short distance away as Lightning gracefully glided ahead, the wind pushing her hair back as she flew forwards. In no time at all, Lightning had really gotten the hang of the hover boots. So much so, that skill-wise she was almost starting to give Fang a run for her money.

Almost.

The two had silently been challenging each other with short races and tiny jumps, but now that Lightning was starting to loosen up more and show more skill in handling herself in the boots, Fang felt that it was time to make things a bit more interesting. With her eyes trained to the back of Lightning's head, she bent over to speed up as she started skating towards the girl.

Lightning first caught sight of Fang catching up to her from the corner of her eye. The dark haired girl approached skating backwards so that she was staring Lightning right in the eyes, a cocky grin on her face, as she pulled a bit ahead of her, weaving her feet to make figure eight shapes as she moved over the water. Lightning arched an unimpressed eyebrow at the Pulsian in return. Fang's grin widened and she sped up to pull ahead even further before rounding so that she was now skating in backwards circles around Lightning.

Lightning chuckled and shook her head. Not wanting to be outdone, she started jumping, spinning in the air before nimbly landing and lowering into a crouching position to make more elegant spins on the water's surface as Fang continued to circle her. When she had finished she looked back up to Fang, who had slowed so that she was skating backwards beside her again. Fang simply raised both her eyebrows, a challenging look in her eye, and spun around so that she was now facing in the same direction as Light.

With the markings of a faint, confident grin on her face, the Gran Pulsian brought her hands up in front of her chest. Lightning watched with interest as a glowing, white bulb slowly formed and grew between them, one of Fang's ruinga spells. Once the bulb had grown to a size where Fang's arms had to stretch out past her sides to contain it, the girl turned to grin at Lightning… and wink. Lightning just stared with a puzzled expression as Fang then shot the ball forward, further down the lake.

There was a loud 'WHOOSH' sound as the water ahead of them immediately began to rise up in huge wave. Lightning's balance wavered as the water below her boots began to violently lap and roll. She quickly shot Fang an annoyed look before focusing on the huge onrush of water that was ripping their way. Almost instinctively, she quickly raised her hands skyward. The oncoming wave stopped its forward rush towards them and instead rose further upward in height, swirling in the air until it formed a tall ramp upwards to the sky.

Fang looked up, gaping at the large aqua-structure as Lightning sped past, making sure to turn around and give the Gran Pulsian a wink of her own before skating onto the water ramp. Fang's grin turned goofy as she bent down to accelerate and catch up with the Cocoonian. They both glided up the ramp, which Lightning actively added curves and gaps to, mostly so she could show off by making more spins and graceful flips across them.

When they had reached the end of the ramp, Lightning looked down thoughtfully at the pool below. She raised one of her hands again, this time with a plume of fire dancing above it. She then aimed downwards to shoot a long string of flames across certain parts of the water's surface. Fang peeped over the edge of their aqua ramp curiously as steam began to rise from the surface below, clouding their vision of the lake. When she lifted her head to look at Lightning again, the girl was smirking smugly at her. She playfully arched an eyebrow at Fang before simply hopping off the end of the ramp and into the steam below.

Fang softly shook her head in disbelief, but followed suit nonetheless.

Now it had turned into a game of hide and seek. The warm fog was thick enough and tall enough to hide the pinkette from view, and Fang had guessed that that was the game Lightning was playing at. Fang continued to slowly skate in circles around the lake, keeping her eyes peeled until she could finally make out the outline of her favorite pink-head in the near distance. A devious smile crept across her face.

Meanwhile, Lightning lazily moved over the water's surface. She thought that she would've been able to keep better track of Fang in the fog, but she had apparently thought wrong. Suddenly her ears perked She could hear the loud displacement of water coming from behind her. She swiftly turned around just in time to see Fang collide into her.

The taller girl snugly wrapped her arms around Light's back and pulled her in close so that their bodies were tightly pressed together. Her thighs clamped tightly around Light's to keep them in place and her face immediately buried itself in the crook of her neck. "Wha?" Light could barely make out before she felt the heavy slap of Fang's boots banging against the heels of her own. Her stomach dropped as they plummeted downwards and all she could see, think, and hear was water as they were swallowed by the lake.

Fang was the first one to shoot up from under the water's surface. She spit out a wide spray of water and rubbed a wet hand over her face, twirling around in search of Lightning. Lightning emerged a moment later, sputtering and throwing her head back to swing the wet hair out of her face. Her eyes widened when she saw Fang swimming a few feet away from her. "You jerk!" she accused with a light smile of disbelief, pushing her palm forward to splash Fang in the face with a small wave of water.

"Heyyy!" Fang returned, using both hands to splash Lightning back.

Lightning retaliated with another splash, this time using her magic to send a bigger wave in Fang's direction.

"Cheater!" Fang called with a smile, now rubbing at her eyes after so much water had blasted them. "Is that the thanks I get for helping ya find your mojo?"

Lightning paused for a moment to mull the question over in her mind. She then narrowed her eyelids seductively in Fang's direction and slowly started to swim closer. "Oh, you want some sort of payment for that?"

Light's voice had taken a darker tone. A sexy, dark tone that was making it a bit harder for Fang to breathe at the moment, but also dark enough to make her wonder whether or not this was the part where she should start swimming away. "Maybe?"

Lightning smirked. "Well, let's see how well you and Snow have been doing with strength training."

"Huh?"

Lightning's hands grasped Fang's waist under the water, and before Fang could register what was happening, the two shot up from the surface, Light's boots sputtering at her feet, to crash back down into the water (Fang-first, of course) a couple yards away. When Fang swam her way back up to the top again, she found Lightning looking at her through squinted eyes. Her face was semi-crinkled and her shoulders hunched up and down with each huff of air that escaped her nostrils as she tried to stifle the laughter that she was holding in behind a wide, close-lipped smile.

"So ya think that's funny?" Fang asked, not that she didn't think it was a good trick herself. "Then this means war!" she exclaimed, making a jump for Lightning, who tried to splash at her in defense.

"Ahh!"

The two wrestled, splashed, and hovered together until well after the sky grew dark.

* * *

Fang parked in front of Lightning's house. Usually she would just watch the other girl walk in from her car, but tonight, walking her to her door just felt more appropriate. Lightning ran a hand through her damp hair as she exited the vehicle, not minding at all that Fang was getting out as well. "So do ya feel any more confident about using your powers tomorrow?" Fang asked, walking around the front of the car to meet Lightning on the other side.

"Yeah. A lot, actually. I guess you were on to something with the just needing to relax… Thanks." Lightning gave Fang a quick, appreciative glance as the two slowly moseyed up the pathway to her house together.

"Don't mention it. It's the least I can do since I'll be at that track meet tomorrow instead of outside the Vestige. Are you still sure it doesn't bother ya? The field events should end relatively early, so I might be able to make it over there before y'all go in."

"No, it's fine. It's not like you'd be able to come in, and after what happened last time, I wouldn't want you to. This meet sounds important to you, anyways."

"Yeah," Fang breathed, letting her eyes drop down to look at the ground for a moment as she walked. "Word through the grapevine is there might be a scout coming to one of 'em down here soon. I figure if I keep doing well, maybe I can get a scholarship and be able to afford getting into a university. Help make a better name for my people up here, ya know."

Lightning eyed Fang earnestly. "You shouldn't let what Palmer said about your people get to you. Not everyone thinks of them like that."

Fang let out a humorless snort. "It wasn't anything Palmer said. I just realized that me and Van going to a real public school means a lot more for the future generations than we thought. I've gotta do my part to help pave the way."

Lightning nodded. "I see… I guess it also helps that you've got all these extra power boosts to help out."

"A little bit," Fang agreed, rubbing her arm. "But I've been practicing ways to keep my measurements similar to the way they were before we changed, so on paper I haven't really improved much. I was just that kick ass to begin with. That and I've got more lucky charms than a cereal aisle. Like see this necklace? My mum had it blessed by a priestess and it's been good luck ever since."

Lightning let out a lighthearted breath. She thought the pencil issue with Craig had been a joke, but she was now starting to realize just how superstitious her Gran Pulsian friend actually was. "How much luck can you really credit the necklace for if you wear it all the time? If you never take it off, it's bound to be there when something lucky happens."

Fang just smirked. "You were one of those kids in grade two who took all the kindergarteners in the bathroom to tell 'em that Santa Clause didn't exist, weren't ya?"

Lightning rolled her eyes. "First of all, he's an obese man who only works one day a year, and his success is based on slavery, animal cruelty, breaking and entering, and lies told to young children. Not to mention, he spends the rest of the year sitting on his fat ass spying on and judging you… they were better off knowing the truth. Second of all, you don't find it uncanny that the harder a person works, the more 'luck' they get?" She stopped walking when the two reached her doorstep and turned on the step to face Fang.

"Karma?"

"No, hard work, perseverance, and discipline actually paying off."

"So you're saying I'm a persevering and disciplined hardworker?" Fang asked, allowing her smirk to widen.

Lightning sighed. "I guess I'm saying that the anomalies believe in luck. It should be a crime how you do so well at everything you try." She looked down to dig in her bag for her keys. "You're a hell of a fighter. It looks like you do nothing with your hair in the morning and your clothes have more holes than most soap opera plots, but you still come to school looking like you've stepped off a runway…"

Fang crinkled her eyebrows and picked at her shirt curiously. It wasn't that holey—WAIT A MINUTE. Fang's head shot up to study the pink-head who was still digging in her bag. Did Light just call her pretty?

"…You're up for a track scholarship. You probably know more about Cocoon history than Mr. Palmer…"

Fang's thoughts were just running rampant now as she listened to Lightning talk. It was kind of unfair for Lightning to be casually showering her in compliments like this after the day they had just had together. It was also unfair that she had to do it while standing there with damp tousled hair and a t-shirt that clung and pulled in all the right places after being tugged onto perfect, wet skin. For something that she didn't even think existed twenty-four hours ago, she had gotten herself into the Danger Zone at least three times today.

"…And if you weren't so raunchy all the time, you'd probably have a good sense of humor too…"

As Lightning continued to talk and search her bag, Fang wordlessly ascended the step to stand in front of her, not truthfully being able to think straight from all the noise going on in her head. The timing was, for lack of a better word, perfect. No, maybe there was a better word: dire. They had just come back from having the most fun Fang had had in awhile. Lightning was going in to battle the next day. The moon was bright and the weather was perfect. It was probably the stupid thing to do… but fuck it. Just like Hope had said, no one was sure what would happen once they were all freed from the fal'Cie. Even if Lightning didn't feel the same way, she knew she'd regret it if she just let this moment slip by.

"Hell," Light finally managed to locate her keys, which had been hiding at the bottom of her bag amid a mess of loose school supplies, "Maybe I should be taking some tips from you on the luck front. Know any ways you could transfer some of yours on to me?"

"I… think I know a lil' somethin' that'll work."

"And what's-" Light hadn't even fully lifted her head from her bag when Fang took her chance. The Gran Pulsian slightly tilted her head and swooped in, closing her lips over Lightning's and tenderly holding them there for a brief moment before slowly pulling away.

"Good luck," the Gran Pulsian exhaled, still standing so close to Lightning that their noses were still grazing each other.

Fang's heart was running a mile a minute as she gazed nervously down at the girl.

Lightning's heart felt as if it had stopped; she just stared at Fang through wide, astonished eyes, still in too much shock to give Fang a readable response to the kiss yet.

"Claire!" a gruff voice shouted from behind them.

Lightning's eyes widened even more and her expression turned horrorstricken. She immediately took a step away from Fang. "Dad…" she breathed.

"Shit…" Fang breathed as well. She turned her head to see a built, pink-haired man in a suit marching across the grass and away from a large, anti-gravity jeep. So this was the illustrious Colonel Farron...

"What's going on out here?" the colonel demanded, coming to a stop next to his daughter and turning to glare at Fang through stern, steel blue eyes.

"Dad. This is my, um, sparring partner. Fang. She was just dropping me off home from a swim workout at the pool. Fang, this is my father," Lightning introduced, shiftily glancing between Fang and her dad.

Even with all of the l'cie ordeals, Fang had never seen Lightning this nervous. Fang looked to Colonel Farron, who was still unblinkingly glaring at her. The family resemblance was a bit too uncanny. "Nice to meet you, sir," she said in a tone that sounded anything but sincere, stretching out her hand.

The colonel just stared at it. "Fang… Pulsian, I presume?"

"Dad…"

"Gran Pulsian, sir," Fang corrected, now giving the man her own, albeit much less intense, glare. The colonel knew exactly who she was. More than likely knew her better than most of her friends did. Fang had no reservations that he had probably pulled her file the day they had all been arrested. Although it wasn't a rare occurrence on the reservation, it would explain how he knew that Vanille and Fang were orphans.

"May I ask what it is the two of you are doing out here?" He aimed his fierce stare to Lightning when he asked this, and from his tone, it was obvious that this was not an optional question.

Lightning eyes darted to the ground to think before apprehensively rising back up to meet her father's. "Dad, I was… we were just talking abou—"

"I was wishing her luck." Fang quickly stated, not allowing Lightning to finish her sentence. The colonel looked back to her, seemingly angry that she had cut his daughter off. "You know how that old saying goes about Lady Luck smiling more upon lovers… so it's only right to give a person a kiss when ya wanna wish them luck."

Both Lightning and her father stared at Fang in confusion. Fang steeled herself and took a deep breath… this wasn't going to be pretty, but the reaction would probably be sure in the hell worth it. "Ya know, I hear that you have quite the hectic work schedule." Then, quick like a cobra, she rose on her toes and ducked in to plant a speedy kiss on Colonel Farron's lips before hastily moving back again. "Good luck handling that."

Lightning gaped at Fang as her father's face turned beet red, his anger swelling up inside him. "Off of my lawn…" he bellowed, pointing a shaky finger towards the street. "Now."

Fang stumbled back a step from the intensity of Colonel Farron's order. "Yes, sir. Guess it's just a Gran Pulsian custom, eh?" Farron's glare remained steadfast and strong. "Well, uh, good—"

The door to the Farron household slammed shut.

"—night…" In that short amount of time, the colonel had managed to grab Lightning, unlock the door, and usher both of them into the house to slam the door in Fang's face before she could even say a proper goodbye.

Fang let out a deep sigh and walked back to her car. She sat in the driver's seat for a minute, silently replaying everything that had just happened in her head. "Idiot!" she groaned, mentally cursing herself and dropping her head to hit the steering wheel before starting the car. If she hadn't been scared of Hope's prediction before, she was definitely afraid of it now…

Danger Zone, indeed.

* * *

"I don't want you seeing that girl anymore!" Farron roared at his daughter, finger pointed to the front door of the house.

Lightning grimaced as the words were shouted at her, keeping her feet planted to the floor yet timidly leaning away from her father as he yelled. "But dad… It was just a misunderstanding."

"She is a troublemaker and a hoodlum! The same one who got you arrested awhile back, or did I misunderstand that too?"

Lightning quietly looked down at her feet. "No, sir. It's just…"

"It's just what?!"

Lightning hesitantly looked up to make eye contact with her father again. "She's one of the best sparring partners I've ever had… and it helps me learn more about Gran Pulsian fighting techniques, which might be seen as a positive on my application. Fang's my best choice for getting in."

Farron's chest heaved as he stared down at his daughter, anger still swimming in his eyes. A moment passed of him mulling the information over in his mind before he finally seemed to settle on a conclusion. "Fine, then. But unless it's in school or strictly for sparring, I don't want you spending time with her, you hear me? I want a copy of your sparring schedule as well. ASAP."

"Dad, the kisses were just joke—"

"We don't joke like that in this family," the colonel snarled firmly, pointing an angry finger downwards in her direction. "Now it's getting late. You should be going to bed."

It wasn't that late at all. It wasn't even a school night, but Lightning knew better than to go against her father when he was like this. She turned to head to her room, checking her phone when she was safe behind the confines of her door. She sat cross-legged on her bed to check the two text messages that she had received in the meantime.

The first was from Serah:

"**Idk what u did, but sounds like u got one more strike til military school… not like that'd be punishment for u. Knock if u need 2 talk**"

The second was from Fang. Lightning hovered over the unopened text for a moment, reading over the name a couple of times before finally opening it:

"**sorry. guess the kiss wasn't so lucky after all**"

Lightning just stared at the words in the text.

For some reason, she couldn't help but feel sorry as well. So did that mean it actually was a joke? Knowing Fang, it probably was... but she should probably respond anyway, right?

She clicked the REPLY button on her phone and let her fingers ghost over the keys. She felt like she should send something back, but she just wasn't sure of what. Maybe a "don't be" or "it wasn't so bad"?

"Arghhh…" Lightning groaned and dropped backwards onto her mattress, tossing the phone to her side. She ran her hands over her face, letting her fingers pause near the bottom to slowly trace over her lips. For a silly joke of a good luck kiss, why was she feeling so muddled inside?

So much for a good night's sleep before heading out to the Vestige.


	16. Chapter 16

Snow's red convertible steadily cruised down one of Bodhum's main roads a little over an hour later than it was scheduled to the day before.

"What took you so long to pick us up in the first place?" Lightning asked in a harsh tone, shooting Snow a long side eye from the passenger seat.

"Geez, I'm sorry… My aunt and uncle thought it'd be a good bonding experience to go to a morning pottery class together. What was I supposed to tell them? No, I can't go because I'll be late picking up our super-powered neighbors for our plot to foil a Pulse fal'Cie?" Snow returned.

"You're right. It's not like any tiny lie or excuse would've gotten you off the hook from an impromptu Saturday morning pottery class from the people who let you skip school last week because your aura was hurting," Lightning huffed, crossing her arms and turning in her seat to angrily stare out the window. "And it's GRAN Pulse."

Snow grumbled under his breath as he concentrated on the road. He guessed it might've been nerves concerning their upcoming battle, but Lightning seemed a bit more cross than usual today. "At least Fang didn't think it was too bad of a time shift…"

Lightning quickly spun around in her seat so that she was facing Snow again. "You talked to Fang today?"

Snow turned his head to glance at Lightning, somewhat curious about the sudden spark of interest. "Of course, I talked to Fang today. This is kind of a big deal for everyone." His brows ruffled in disbelief. "You didn't?"

"Must've slipped my mind," she muttered, averting her eyes to the road for a short moment before looking back up to Snow. "What'd she say?"

"Nothing too crucial," he shrugged. "Just that she'd probably be done with her field events by the time we get there, so she'd head home afterwards in case we needed to call her for something."

"Oh. Okay." Lightning simply nodded and turned to quietly face the window again.

Snow tore his eyes away from the road for another second to peep at her. She wasn't sulking like he had expected her to be doing. Instead, she just looked to be lost in thought. Yep, this fal'Cie thing definitely had to be shaking her up a little. Snow's eyes then darted to the rearview mirror to check on the youngest rider in the back seat. "Hope. How you holding up back there?"

Hope's head lifted towards the front of the car. He had been staring down at his lap, seemingly turning over something in his mind as well. "Alright, I guess. Just nervous."

Snow smiled. "Nothing to be nervous about, buddy. We're the heroes! We've got this in the bag." He slowed the car down as he approached the turn from the main street to the side road that led to the Vestige parking lot. "And this Anima dude is gonna find that out the hard way in just a couple minutes. By the—whoa…"

Lightning's head perked up attentively as Snow rolled the car into the parking lot. It was swarming with people. "What the hell…" she quietly questioned to no one in particular.

Hope leaned against the door in the backseat to peer out the window at the crowd of people moving around the lot as well. "Do you think there's some kind of event here today?"

"No." Light's voice was one step away from being a growl. She recognized the clothing of most of the people traversing the huge lot before she even noticed the yellow tape surrounding the building or the helmeted men marching from out and behind it. PSICOM.

"Snow, park the car. We've got to check this out."

"Aye, aye, captain," Snow consented, pulling the car into the closest empty space and unlocking the doors.

Lightning led the march across the rest of the parking lot to the tape that surrounded the Vestige perimeter. All of the PSICOM soldiers and officers seemed to be heavily engrossed in whatever they were doing, because none of them stopped or broke stride to pay the youngsters any mind. As Lightning flicked at the tape and studied the area, Hope tried to flag down one of the busy government men that continued to pass by.

"Excuse me. Sir?" He finally managed to grab the attention of an unmasked man in an enforcer uniform.

The man froze, genuinely surprised to see the group of students there before once again regaining his composure. "I'm sorry, kids. The Vestige is closed for the weekend. You'll have to come back some other time."

"Closed? But why? You've got it taped up as if there was a murder here." Lightning pointed out, turning her head away from the building to look at the man. From her knowledge, this sort of tape was only used for high crimes involving murder and such.

The man lowered his eyes at Lightning curiously, no doubt taking in her pink hair and blue eyes but not connecting what seemed so familiar about them. "I'm sorry, miss. That is official PSICOM business. Business that would run much more smoothly if you were not in the way. Please, allow me to escort the group of you to the bus stop."

"Claire Farron?"

A cold shiver ran up Lightning's spine and her brows instinctively creased as her head snapped in the direction of the familiar voice calling her real name. Steel gray eyes locked on her own as a tall, silver-haired man approached the small group.

Yaag Rosch.

"Whew. PSICOM officer or not, dude's got balls," Light could hear Snow whisper to Hope behind her back.

A small, tight-lipped smile made its way to Rosch's face. "Oh, I apologize. It's Lightning, isn't it?"

"Farron?" The man in the enforcer uniform asked, quickly turning his head back and forth from Lighting to Rosch with a stunned look on his face. "As in—"

"Gaskins," Rosch addressed the man, not allowing him to finish his question. "The forensics team could use some more hands to help bring their equipment in through the west entrance. You should get on that. Now."

"Oh, uh… yes, sir." Gaskins bowed his head subserviently, gawking at Lightning for only a second more before hurriedly striding off to the direction of the west entrance.

"Lightning," Rosch said, bringing his attention back to the teens. "I am so sorry to disappoint you and your…" His eyes lifted to glaze over Snow and Hope before returning to Light, "…friends, but the Vestige is currently closed due to a major investigation."

Lightning felt her brow tighten even more as she uncomfortably stood under Rosch's gaze. There was something that she just found downright unsettling about this man, and that eerie half-smile on his face was doing nothing to ease it. "What would be so important to investigate at the Vestige? Did someone steal something valuable?"

"Hehehe," Rosch softly chuckled, his smile opening into a bit of an impressed smirk. "I see you have a strong, investigative sense just like your father. But yes, I guess you can say that something important went missing. It seems as if a very old and very important artifact that was accidentally stored on the premises may have disappeared some weeks ago, and it's of extreme importance that we find it."

"Must be one important artifact," Lightning mused, shifting her weight around a bit before folding her arms tightly across her chest, "I mean, if it's got so much of PSICOM searching for it weeks after it's gone missing. Even though it does bring into question how important it is if you just noticed it was missing now."

"Well, sometimes things get misplaced and tend to slip past security," Rosch replied with a look of pure interest still on his face. "But it is so fortunate that I should run in to you here. You see, there seems to be a rumour going around that a few local teens were caught breaking into a restricted area of the Vestige, but we can't seem to find any leads or evidence of such. As a high schooler, do you happen to know anything about this?"

Lightning wasn't sure if her mind was playing tricks on her or not, but there seemed to be a knowing spark in Rosch's eye as he asked her the question. Nonetheless, she put on her best poker face and in an even tone answered, "Well, sir, they are called rumours for a reason."

"I see…" Rosch nodded, his gaze on Lightning never wavering. "I guess that's just the power of the high school rumour mill. Even after you've graduated, it still pulls you back in."

"I guess so," Lightning replied, staring back at Rosch just as hard. "But since the Vestige is closed, my friends and I should probably be going. It looks like you guys have a lot of work to get to."

"That we do," Rosch agreed, that spark once again shining in his eyes.

Lightning peered over her shoulder at Hope and Snow and tilted her head in the direction where they had parked. Both boys nodded in agreement and began to lead the way back to the vehicle, Lightning following close behind. They hadn't gotten too many steps forward when they were once again halted by Rosch's voice.

"And Lightning!"

Light turned around to give Rosch an inquisitive look.

"I look forward to seeing you at dinner tomorrow."

Lightning's expression slowly twisted in confusion and Rosch smiled broadly in response. "Your father invited me over for dinner at your house tomorrow night. We would've settled on tonight, but I'm afraid my hands will be tied with interrogations for the better half of the evening. Nonetheless, I couldn't be any more excited. I feel that we'll have lots to talk about."

"Yeah…" Lightning agreed as her stomach uncomfortably turned. "Me, too. C'mon, guys. Let's get out of here."

* * *

"Argh, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me!"

"Do you think the thing they're looking for is the fal'Cie?" Snow asked in a shaky voice, burning rubber down one of the nearly empty back roads. "The thing they're looking for can't be the fal'Cie, right?!"

Whatever cool that the teens had held in the Vestige parking lot had immediately faded and turned into a hectic, jumbled mess of feelings of anxiety and 'oh, holy shit-ness'.

"Of course, he was talking about the fal'Cie!" Lightning groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She had suddenly gotten a major headache and she couldn't stop herself from continually rocking back and forth in her seat. "What else could he have been talking about?"

"But I don't get it," Hope leaned forward onto his knees from his spot in the middle of the back seat. "If he heard the rumour about the trespassing… how could he not know it was us who did it? It's not like it's a well-kept secret."

Lightning took in a deep inhale through her mouth and slowly exhaled through her nose in an attempt to settle herself down. Today was supposed to be the day that they faced the fal'Cie and got this Etro-forsaken curse lifted from them. Things weren't supposed to be getting this out of hand. "He probably does know it was us," she replied in a strained breath. In her mind, she could still see that stupid, smug smirk with that knowing gleam in his eyes as he talked to her. "He just must not have any proof. I'm pretty sure that my dad wiped our school from the Vestige's entry log, and it wasn't like it was an official school field trip or anything."

"But they're PSICOM!" Snow chimed in worriedly from the driver's seat. "If they really suspected we had something to do with a rogue fal'Cie, couldn't they just kidnap us or whack us and make it look like an accident?!" Snow's face then paled and his eyes went wide. "Oh, no… we're gonna get wasted…"

"For the love of... ugh! Can you just calm down?!" Lightning exclaimed before looking over her shoulder to make sure that Hope wasn't fazed by Snow's morbid concern. "We're still minors and my dad is a high ranking PSICOM official. There might just be too many complications or something like that… I don't know!"

"Man…" Snow breathed, his hunched shoulders visibly relaxing a bit as he thought about it. "I've never loved your dad so much as I do now, which might not sound like such a big deal since he's scared the crap out of me for most of my life—"

Lightning rolled her eyes.

"—but this is different. Serious man crush going on right now. Just think of what would happen if we were like Regular Joes or something. We'd be totally screwed."

A short moment of silence settled in the car before all three teens came to a simultaneous and sudden realization.

"Fang and Vanille!"

Lightning's stomach dropped. For some reason, even though PSICOM had suspicions about the group's involvement, they had yet to act on them. But if they knew that any Gran Pulsians were involved, they probably wouldn't waste any time in sending in a hit squad to take out half the reservation. She immediately yanked her phone from her pocket. "I'll call Fang. Hope, you try to get Vanille."

"Don't worry, guys!" Snow veered hard to his right, swiftly turning the car onto the very next side road. "We're not too far away from the reservation. I can get us there in a few minutes."

"You know where their living area is?" Lightning asked as the first ring went unanswered on the phone.

"Just about. Vanille explained the known lay of the land to me once. I think I'd be able to get us there without getting lost."

"Dammit! It went to the machine! Hope, did Vanille answer?" Lightning turned to Hope in the backseat and worriedly growled when the boy dejectedly shook his head to answer 'no'. This couldn't be good. She roughly ran her hand over her face as the echoes of unanswered rings and Rosch's smug voice kept repeating on loop in her head. "Snow, STEP ON IT."

Snow nodded and punched harder on the gas. The car's engine rumbled as they sped along the empty road through the woods to the Gran Pulse reservation.

* * *

Snow slowed the car down as the dirt road he drove on opened up into a clearing that was cluttered with large, metal structures. "I'm guessing this is it," he announced, slowing the car down even more.

Lightning's chest quickly heaved up and down. For the rest of the ride, she had found that it was getting immensely harder and harder to breathe. Neither Fang nor Vanille had answered their phones or decided to call back. She tried to find some relief in the fact that everything on the reservation seemed peaceful, with older adults sitting outside their trailers talking and others casually walking about, but it wasn't as if PSICOM didn't have the power to quietly sedate and sneak Fang and Vanille from the premises.

Snow pulled the car further into the living space before finally deciding to put it in park since there wasn't exactly a prescribed place for parking and he couldn't see any other vehicle around for him to guide his decision on.

Lightning quickly hopped out of the car the moment it stopped. She stood outside the door and frantically looked around. It was just beginning to sink in that she had no idea which trailer Fang and Vanille could possibly live in. Was there some sort of directory? Should she just start calling out their names? She was so taken up in her worry that she didn't even notice the multitude of eyes and the small crowd of gatherers that their arrival was attracting.

Snow and Hope, on the other hand, did notice.

Snow cautiously reached over to grab Hope's hand before slowly walking around the car to stand behind Lightning. He looked about him cautiously as the reservation inhabitants began to crowd about with curious and defensive looks on their faces. Snow's ride was by far the newest, shiniest, and most expensive thing that he could at least see in the area. Hell, he'd even bet that it cost more than a whole block of their trailers did.

"Light…" he softly called under his breath, keeping a firm and close grip on Hope's hand as he continued to watch the slowly approaching Pulsians. Lightning, however, just stayed oblivious, surveying the area for at least a clue as to where the two missing l'cie may live.

"Oi!"

She was broken from her frantic thoughts by a loud voice across the way. She lifted her head to meet the resolute stare of a young man that didn't look much older than she was. He had bronzed skin, similar to Fang's, and was wearing a ripped, sleeveless shirt that allowed her to see a few tattooed bands around his upper arm.

"Can I help you lot with anything?" The young man called, slowly walking in the Cocoonians' direction with a guarded look on his face. "Directions to the nearest highway, perhaps?"

Lightning just glared back at the boy. She was sensing some hostility from him and didn't like it one bit.

"Oh, uh, no," Snow spoke up from behind her. "We're actually looking for someone. Or some people."

"Oh. Looking for someone, eh?" The boy lifted his eyebrows with a skeptical look on his face. "Well, it's pretty hard to find people around here, so I suggest ya just head back to wherever ya came from and try looking somewhere else."

"Hey, man," Snow said, raising his free hand in a calming gesture, "We don't want any trouble. We just need to see F—"

"I told ya," The boy curtly interrupted, taking a single, aggressive step forward. "We can't help. Now please. Take your little brother, your fancy car, and your girlfriend, and leave… or something might not leave here as pretty as it came."

"Ugh! We don't have time for this!" Lightning exploded, taking some deliberate steps of her own in the boy's direction. "We need to—"

"Stop right there!"

Lightning halted in mid-step as a handful of other residents defensively stepped forward to stand behind the boy, all of them tensed and looking ready to pounce. Lightning's hands began trembling, but not out of fear or anxiety… This was from anger. She balled a fist and felt an electric and oh so familiar sensation run from her chest to her hand, pooling into her balled fist. Unless if it was to lead her to Fang and Vanille, if anyone else so much as twitched in her direction, she would make sure that all of them would remember her namesake.

"Dane! Light!" A familiar voice sounded through the air. "What're ya doing?!"

Lightning's fist immediately relaxed and she whipped around in the direction of Fang's voice. Sure enough, her training partner had just exited from one of the trailers and was jumping over its steps to reach the ground. Lightning never thought she would ever be so happy to see that scraggly mop of dark hair as she was in that moment.

"Fang…" she breathed, and without thinking, she let her legs take off into a sprint to close the gap between the two, barely giving Fang enough time to register what was going on before flying into her.

"Augh!" Fang choked as she caught Lightning in her arms, holding her as she stood straight up so that the pinkette's toes dangled a couple of inches off the ground. "Light?"

Lightning just tightened the grip that she had around the other girl's neck, hooking her chin over the top of Fang's shoulder to tighten the embrace even more. They were so close that she could feel Fang's heart beating against her own excited, heaving chest. "You didn't answer your phone," she accused in a more relieved than angry tone.

"I-I'm sorry," Fang apologized, still unsure of what was going on. "I'm an idiot, I know. Vanille was wound so tight that I thought she might be having a panic attack, and I forgot to turn the blasted thing off silent, and… and I guess there's no good excuse, really."

Lightning just nodded along, finding comfort in the vibrations against her body that came from Fang speaking. Fang, meanwhile, warily studied the faces of most of the crowd from over Lightning's shoulder. Hope and Snow looked totally flabbergasted at the sudden outburst of emotion from their usually detached neighbor. Most of the other Gran Pulsians were whispering amongst each other and scrutinizing the two through curious eyes while one in particular just settled on them with a firm and disapproving gaze.

Lightning's eyes lifted on seeing the door to the trailer Fang had exited open and Vanille's head slowly peeked out. She felt a sudden sinking feeling of embarrassment as the redhead's gaze landed on the two of them, her brows slightly scrunching and the cogs of her mind obviously turning as her whole body now appeared in the doorway.

"Ahem!" The boy who Light had been at ends with just a moment ago, Dane, loudly cleared his throat, never taking his hard stare off the two girls.

Lightning loosened her grip around Fang's neck and allowed the other girl to gently lower her back to the ground. Now that the impulse had worn off, she could feel her cheeks heating up with abashment at how badly she had lost her composure. She took a hard swallow and uncomfortably took a short step away from Fang. "Next time, answer the phone when you say you will," she scolded in a low and muffled voice, pushing Fang's shoulder.

"Yeah… yeah," Fang replied, but her focus was not on Lightning. She barely seemed to notice the shove at all. Her attention was more divested in the intense staring contest she was having with Dane. "C'mon," she finally said, taking Light a little bit by surprise by gently grasping her hand. "Snow. Hope. You too. We should talk inside."

Fang nodded in the direction of Vanille and their trailer before leading the way to its entrance.

As the rest of the Gran Pulsians began to disperse, with most of the younger ones beginning to crowd around the bright red convertible, Dane continued to watch the group of younger teens make their way inside Fang's trailer with an unmistakable look of disdain.

* * *

"So what's goin' on?" Fang immediately asked, turning to look over her fellow l'cie once the trailer door had closed behind them. "We've still got our brands. Did it not work?"

"Pretty much," Lightning answered. "Place was crawling with PSICOM. We think they found out about the fal'Cie but now they can't find it. They were doing a full investigative sweep of the place when we pulled up."

"And we think they might suspect we know something about it going missing," Hope added. "Even though we technically don't…"

"Wait, you think they know we saw the fal'Cie?" Fang asked in an escalated voice.

"They've heard the rumours about the arrest, but they can't find any real proof of it," Lightning tried reassuring.

"Since when has PSICOM needed proof for anything?" Fang murmured, dropping her eyes to the floor with a look of contemplation on her face.

"That's what we thought too. …it's why we rushed over here so quickly to find you two." Lightning hadn't even noticed that Fang was still holding her hand until she felt the light pressure of a comforting squeeze after making that statement. "But there must be something stopping them from making the next move."

"Well," Hope spoke up again, rubbing his chin. "I've been thinking about it... And Van and Fang might actually be the safest ones out of all of us. Well, at least for now."

Fang finally released Light's hand so that she could plant both hands on her hips. "Now there's a first. How'd ya come to that conclusion?"

"Well, they seem to only know about us through the rumours about us getting arrested," Hope began, earnestly looking over everyone's faces as he talked. "Depending on his sources, there's still a chance that Fang and Vanille might not have been included. The Vestige happened over a month ago, and everyone pretty much stopped caring about Vanille and Fang being involved almost a couple days after it happened, probably town pride and all. I can say for a fact that the last time I heard the story, it involved us trying to stop three Pulsian men from trying to rob the place. No one outside a small circle of folks at school even bothered to figure out Fang and Vanille's names after it all happened… And since there was no class roster from the field trip and Pulsians aren't even allowed to go into the Vestige in the first place, it might be easier for them to assume that it was either a break-in from some adults or just a falsified rumour added to make the story more exciting instead of two high school girls finding a loophole in the security measures."

"Hmm," Vanille tapped her chin, speaking amongst the group for the first time today. "Sounds plausible."

"Sounds too good to be true…" Fang muttered in response.

"But Light, that one guy said he's eating dinner at your place tomorrow, right?" Hope asked, now looking to his older neighbor. Lightning nodded in response. "Then maybe you can find a way to mine him for some info. See what he knows?"

"Wow," Snow said with an impressed grin. "You're becoming a strategic mastermind."

"Okay, okay, so ya've apparently got someone you can get information from, but something's still bothering me," Fang said, lifting a finger to the air with a pensive look on her face. "Ya said they were doing a full investigative sweep of the place?"

"Yeah. They had forensics equipment out the wazzoo," Snow replied.

"Like brushing for fingerprints and being able to match 'em through a database type equipment?" Fang asked.

"Shit…" Lightning groaned. "How many of you have a criminal record?"

Three hands lifted to the air.

"Jaywalking."

"Why is it just assumed we have criminal records? All Gran Pulsians are required to be fingerprinted and put on record, regardless of committing a crime or not, ya know."

"Multiple misdemeanors," Snow said, adding in his two cents. "Plus there was the whole shaving off half my head for the drug testing."

"Alright, we've got to get moving. My dad's at HQ today, so I can make up an excuse to visit him and try to find a way to delete everyone's files… somehow."

"I'll call Maqui. He's in some type of genius hacker association. They live for this type of stuff," Snow offered, pulling out his phone and following Lightning to the door.

"Wait, I'm comin' too," Fang called, rushing behind them.

"No!" Lightning twirled on her heel to face Fang and stare her straight in the eyes. "It's better that you just find some place safe and wait."

"You're joking, right?" Fang asked with a disbelieving expression. "This is my problem too, ya know! Ya can't just keep benching me every time something important happens!"

"Fang, you're talking about marching straight into this region's PSICOM headquarters to perform a criminal act without bringing any more attention to yourself than you already have! Top that onto seeing my dad so soon after what happened yesterday, and you're just asking to get into more trouble!"

Fang just glared, angrily steaming at the thought of being left behind again but at the same time realizing just how much sense Lightning was making.

"Uh… what happened yesterday?" Snow asked, shifting a questioning glance from Lightning to Fang.

"Nothing," Lightning quickly snapped, turning for the door. Fang snorted a heavy puff of air from her nostrils and raised her hands to interlock behind her head, averting her glare to the opposite side of the trailer. "But we've got to go now! Before they send in any prints or hair samples or something. Fang. Vanille. We'll call you once we get done."

"Yes, ma'am, Miss Lightning sir ma'am," Fang responded in a sarcastic tone as the three Cocoonians exited the trailer.

Vanille watched them leave with a slightly confused expression on her face before turning back to her best friend. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Fang mumbled, lowering her hands from her head so that one could cradle her branded upper arm. "Look, I need some air. I'll be back in a few."

"Fang, it's probably smarter if we both stay inside and stick to—" Vanille was cut off by the door slamming behind Fang on her exit. "—gether…" The ending of her sentence fell on an empty audience. Vanille stared at the door worriedly. She understood why her best friend was so upset, but after so many years of knowing the girl, she just couldn't shake the feeling… something was wrong with Fang.

* * *

"I won't lie and say that I'm not surprised to see you, though." Colonel Farron admitted to his eldest daughter, who stood in front of him in one of the HQ offices with a short, unruly looking blonde boy who was wearing a pair of goggles atop his head. "And please, remind me again what your name is."

"Maqui, sir!" The boy chirped excitedly

"Maqui is one of my babysitting clients," Lightning added, regaining her father's attention. "It's a long story, but his parents dropped him off and we decided to take a walk for ice cream. I forgot to bring my keys, and Serah left to do something cheer-related so we ended up getting locked out. I was hoping that I could borrow your key to get back in?"

"You forgot your keys?" Farron asked disbelievingly, still turning his gaze to every once in awhile study the weird blonde child standing next to his daughter. "And as a result, you decided to take a child across town to enter a Code-3-Clearance government building? You couldn't have just taken him to a park?"

"I left my medication in the house," Maqui stated while looking around the room in wonder. "When I was five, I was diagnosed with a real bad case of—"

"No, it's alright, son. I can probably guess," Farron assured dismissively.

"But speaking of, uh, stuff, do you know where the boys' room is? I've been holding it since before I got dropped off."

Farron raised a slightly disgusted eyebrow in Maqui's direction before answering. "Out the door, make two rights. Here, take this badge in case somebody stops you."

"Thank you, sir!" Maqui thanked with a wide smile as he accepted a clearance badge from the colonel. He then turned to flash Lightning a special, private smile before quickly scurrying out the room.

Farron continued to watch the boy curiously until he had disappeared out the door. "Tell me you're getting paid extra for that one…"

"Not really."

Farron sighed and rubbed his temples. "Claire… You locked yourself out of the house? I don't know what to make of these past two days, but I can tell you for sure that I don't like it."

"I understand," Lightning responded, clasping her hands behind her back and looking down at her feet. "And it's also kind of why I thought to come here as well. I want to apologize for everything."

Farron's expression perked up and he leaned back to make his seat recline. "Apologize?"

"Yes," Lightning affirmed with a resolute nod. She raised her head to look her father in the eyes. "I should have told you beforehand about Fang being my sparring partner. It's just that, there are so many benefits to the relationship, but I didn't think you would approve after everything that had happened at the Vestige. I'm sorry."

Farron gazed thoughtfully at his eldest for a moment. "I can't say that I approve of the deception, but I do admire your ambition. And one of the trials of being a parent is letting your children make decisions on their own, no matter how… questionable they are. Now, about Fang. She doesn't try to wish you luck often, does she?"

Lightning could feel an involuntary blush coming along on being put on the spot about the kiss from last night. "No, sir. I was caught off guard just as much as you were."

"Hmm," Farron continued the critical stare down of his child and allowed a short moment of silence to pass between them before asking his next question. "What do you do for fun nowadays?"

Light was caught off guard by the sudden change of subject. "I, uh, guess reading and training."

"That's it? That's all you do for fun?" Farron raised his eyebrows at his daughter who just stared back at him. Farron could read his daughter very well and her expression showed that she had no idea how to answer him. "I've been hearing that there's a little social for the new cadets coming up soon. I've been mentoring a particular young man who's still looking for a date. He's a real nice young man. Might not have as much discipline and determination as you do, but maybe the two of you can rub off on each other. You should consider it."

Lightning quietly stood for a moment, letting the information sink in. "Aren't I too young for that?" she finally asked, not knowing any other way to respond.

"He's only two years older than you. It's fine," Farron assured.

"Okay... I guess I'll consider it then."

"Good," Farron said with a smile before rubbing his chin pensively for a moment. "But there is one thing that's been bothering me lately… What was she wishing you luck for?"

"Huh?" Another question that blindsided her. Her father was probably too worked up yesterday to think to ask the question, but now that he had had time to sit and think on it, the thought had probably been nagging him all day.

"What was so important that she needed to give you a… well, that she needed to wish you luck for?"

"Maqui," Lightning quickly blurted. "He's considered to be a handful, especially with his medical condition. I was complaining about it a bit and Fang wanted to wish me luck."

"I see." Farron nodded his head. "You should have definitely asked for more pay if the child has a reputation. Speaking of which, how long does it take him to use the restroom?"

Lightning felt her pulse pick up speed. "I can go look for him if you want," she offered. She had been expecting some sort of lecture from her father to buy more time. It was foolish of her to have brought the conversation back around to Maqui when she didn't get one.

"In the men's room? No, you stay here. I'll go check on him," Farron said, moving toward the door. "We don't need two kids roaming the hallways."

Lightning silently cursed as her father exited the office. She knew her father wasn't going to find Maqui in the restroom.

She immediately pulled out her phone to text the younger boy, hoping that something might detain her father on the way to the men's room. At the very least, she hoped that Maqui would be able to make up a good excuse for wandering off.

A few minutes passed without anyone else returning to the office. Lightning nervously began to pace around the small room. Something had to be up. Maqui never texted back and her dad never returned to see if he had come back to the office. If Maqui had been caught hacking into the system, she was sure there would've been some type of alarm or code red system that should've gone off... Nonetheless, she decided that she'd only wait three more minutes before she leaving the office to search for them. She didn't want to have to use her powers in a PSICOM facility, but she would if she had to. All of their well-beings depended on the success of this mission, and Maqui didn't deserve to be dragged into it like this either.

Lightning slowed her pacing down for a moment when she caught sight of a shiny, navy blue box in the corner. On the side of the box in red letters were the words 'ANTI-GRAVS'. Light quickly strode over to the box to open it. Sure enough, the box was pretty much filled with small, portable anti-gravity mechanisms. A fleeting, warm feeling broke through all the nervousness in her system as she looked over the little pieces of tech. She remembered these. Once upon a time, her dad used to let her take a couple whenever she'd visit HQ and they'd go to a park afterwards for her to practice jumping off of jungle gyms with them. Pushing the warm memory to the back of her mind, she snatched a couple handfuls of the tiny things to stuff into her pockets. If she had to rescue Maqui and escape from HQ, they might just come in handy.

"Why? Is your medical condition IBS?"

Lightning straightened and jumped away from the box on hearing her father's voice outside the office door.

"Actually, it's—"

"I don't really want to know."

Light's eyes slightly widened in surprise as Maqui and her father finally entered the office. Maqui gave her a sly smile as he walked to her side. Lightning felt her brows crinkle a bit in wonderment as she looked down at the boy. He couldn't have pulled it off, could he?

"Well, dad," she began, slowly peeling her eyes away from Maqui, "I guess we should get going. Thank you for… everything."

She placed her hand on Maqui's back to lead him out the door.

"Claire."

She froze on hearing her father loudly state her name before turning her head to look over her shoulder.

Her dad stood with a slightly perturbed look on his face. His arm was outstretched and his key to the house was held out between two fingers. "You forgot this."

"Oh." She took a few steps back in the office to take the key from her father. "I guess my head really has been a bit all over the place lately. Thanks."

"Uh huh…" Farron folded his arms against his chest and watched with a hint of concern on his face as his daughter left the room for the second time.

It wasn't until they were off of PSICOM grounds and waiting for Snow to circle back around to pick them up that Lightning turned to Maqui. "So wait, just… how?"

"Easy," Maqui smiled smugly as if he had been waiting for her to ask this question for ages (because quite frankly, he had). "On my way to the bathroom, I looked into every office I passed to see if there were any computers hooked to the mainframe jacks. Once I found one, I snuck in and placed one of my special decoding chips to the bottom of it. Then I went to the bathroom, sat in one of the stalls, pulled out my datapad, and worked from there. I also used my secret weapon." At this point, Maqui pulled out a circular shaped device that looked a bit like an air freshener. "I stuck this to the wall of the stall, and it simulated sounds of using the restroom while dispensing the smell the fecal matter."

Lightning crinkled her nose a bit at the thought that the boy was carrying a shit-simulator around in his pocket. "So that's why my dad really thought you were using the bathroom… You're not worried that someone might find the chip you hid?"

"Nope. It's made of a special material that the temperature of the computer should melt within the hour, leaving no trace that it was there in the first place."

"And you were able to erase everyone's records?"

"Well, I figured that it'd be too fishy if I erased them all, especially Fang and Vanille's since Pulsians are required to have their prints on record and they might stick out too much if they don't have any charges against them. So I simply replaced everyone's fingerprint and DNA records with new ones. PSICOM will never be able to match them."

"Wow," Lightning crossed her arms and stared down at the boy in reverence. "Color me impressed."

Maqui grinned proudly. "Fang's going to owe me a whole car for this one."

Lightning smirked to herself, but the smirk soon faded as she thought about the predicament that they were now in. They had no fal'Cie and no idea of how to interpret their focus. They were pretty much back to square one except now they had less time and PSICOM was sniffing at their trail. Between that and the growing tension with her dad over Fang, Lightning was having a hard time just accepting the smaller victories as they came. Hopefully, she would be able to get some good information from Rosch at dinner tomorrow, because more than anything right now, she felt like she just needed a big win.

* * *

**A/N:** Whoa, thanks for all the feedback! Much appreciated. And a definite thanks to The Nameless Author for the heads up on the rank change. I didn't even realize that I ninja'd that switch in there, which is weird because it looks like I was actually using both of them in one chapter... hmm. But yeah, thanks again and sorry if there was any confusion. I've went over the past chapters and edited everything so it's now just one consistent Colonel.


	17. Chapter 17

Lightning made a face as she bent over in front of the oven to inspect the roast that was slowly cooking inside. "About how much more time do you think it needs?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to Serah, who was mixing vegetables for a salad on the island.

"I dunno. Mr. Rosch looks like a guy who eats his meat raw anyway, so probably not that much," Serah answered, stopping her mixing only for a moment to shiver. "That guy gives me the creeps."

"You and me both," Lightning breathed, closing the oven and standing straight. "But don't say that so loudly. He might be able to hear you."

"With what? Freakish demon hearing?" Serah laughed to herself. Lightning threw Serah a disapproving look and Serah shrugged innocently in return. She had been getting a bit more flip and frequent with her side comments since joining the cheerleading squad. "Okay, okay. Salad's ready."

Lightning grabbed a pitcher of water out of the fridge and led the way into the dining room where her father and Rosch were seated at the table talking.

"The roast should be done in a few more minutes. Sorry about the wait. We weren't expecting you to be so early," Lightning apologized, filling all the glasses at the table while Serah dished out salad onto everyone's plate.

"Oh, it's fine. The food is simply an additional benefit to enjoying your company," Rosch said politely, wearing an eerie half-smile.

"Kiss ass…" Light could hear Serah whisper under her breath. She gave her younger sibling a hard nudge in the side to signal for her to be more respectful, or to at least wait until the man had left their house before trash talking. Serah shot her another innocent glance in response before taking a seat at the table.

"So Lightning," Rosch began after taking a sip of water. "We're still in the middle of our investigation at the Vestige, but we should be done by the end of the week, just in case you and your friends were interested in returning as soon as possible."

Lightning had just pulled her chair out from under the table and was in the motion of sitting down when Rosch sneak attacked her with that statement. Her ass immediately plopped onto the seat from the sudden shock as her father, who had already started digging in on his salad, started choking on a piece of lettuce. "Excuse me?" Farron coughed before making a few more rumbling sounds in his throat and taking a huge gulp of water.

"Oh," Rosch said, turning sincerely to Colonel Farron. "I ran into Lightning with some of her friends at the Vestige yesterday. However, the premises were closed due to investigation so I had to turn them around."

"So Claire was at the Vestige yesterday?" Farron turned to eye Light suspiciously while Light looked down at her plate to avoid eye contact. "Seems like my daughter had quite the busy day yesterday. Which friends did you go with?"

"Just a couple of the neighbors," Lightning replied in a muffled tone.

"Oh, the brawny boy and the silver-haired child live in the neighborhood?" Rosch asked, feigning interest.

Colonel Farron's eyes looked as if they could start a fire right now and they were aimed directly at Lightning. "And no one else?"

This time Lightning raised her head to look her father in the face when she answered. "No one else."

Farron was still irked by the idea that Lightning had been at the Vestige with Snow and Hope before visiting him at PSICOM HQ, but he at least found some relief that she hadn't been with the two Pulsian girls as well, the taller wild-looking one especially. "But you say there's an investigation going on at the Vestige," he now turned his attention to Rosch while Serah leaned her head forward over the table to try and catch Lightning's attention. When she finally succeeded she mouthed the word, 'Snow?' and Lightning promptly disregarded her as the colonel continued to talk to Rosch, "I wasn't aware there was an investigation going on at the Vestige."

"It was pretty much a flash call," Rosch replied. "Ordered by the Primarch."

"By the Primarch?" Farron's eyes widened a small bit. "Sounds serious."

"It is," Rosch confirmed. "As I explained to Lightning yesterday, a very important artifact apparently appeared then disappeared from the facility. It is of grave importance that we retrieve it, but we have no leads on the case. The only interesting thing we seem to have come across is a high school rumour concerning a trespassing month ago. We're having a hard time believing that high schoolers could be responsible, but the approximate timing and amount of credible information we've been able to find on it have made it a curious source. You wouldn't happen to have any information regarding that, would you Colonel?" Rosch's eyes lit up as they landed on his old mentor.

Farron evenly stared back at the silver haired man before taking a long sip of water. Lightning didn't want to give anything away but watched her father through the corner of her eye. She swore that she could feel the disappointment emanating from him. "Did you find anything in the records?"

"No," Rosch responded, his tone sounding much more pleasant than the steely look that his eyes displayed.

Farron tilted his head in a half shrug motion. "Then you know as much as I do."

Lightning kept her eyes trained on her plate. It was the only thing she could do to keep herself from showing any of the surprise she felt towards her father's outright lie to a superior.

"I should have figured so much," Rosch sighed. "But we do have another idea, loosely based off of the same tip. There is a concern that a group of Pulsian rebels may have forced their way into the Vestige to steal the artifact. It's a much more believable idea than a small group of teenagers doing so, especially concerning the artifact's origins and the gifts it is said to grant the people of Pulse."

"Gran Pulse," Lightning corrected under her breath before quickly shutting her mouth. Shit. Why was that becoming so automatic now?

Farron glanced at her reproachfully while Rosch raised his eyebrows in amusement. "I apologize. I didn't know you had such an penchant for the textbook name of the planet."

"Claire has a penchant for calling everything by its official name except herself," Farron answered for her. "But what is this idea you have about the Pulsians rebelling? Have there been any stories of unrest?" He didn't even try to add the 'Gran' in its correct place.

"There's always unrest when it comes to the Gran Pulsians," Rosch stated. "They're a group that can never be satisfied. This morning we took a trip to the local reservation and were met with nothing but hostility. It's more than likely that they're hiding something."

"Maybe they just don't like PSICOM," Lightning offered, despite her own bumpy experience with most of the reservation's residents.

"Heh, those who break the law never do care for those who uphold it," Rosch chuckled lightly.

"Who says they're all lawbreakers?" Lightning asked, now looking fiercely in Rosch's direction. "Word through the grapevine is that one might be up for a full-ride university scholarship for athletics."

Rosch smirked and opened his palms in a welcoming gesture. "Statistics show that most Pulse-borns have already been booked for at least one crime by the age of fourteen, two by seventeen, and are usually expecting children by nineteen. It's nice that one may qualify for a scholarship now, but I couldn't see any respectable university taking the risk in using one of their scholarships to enroll someone from such a historically troubled race."

"What?" Lightning shot in disbelief. "You don't even know—"

"Claire." Farron cut in with a loud, commanding voice. "You should probably check on the roast now, don't you think? Serah, you should go with her."

Lightning didn't even notice that she had stood up. Her father calmly watched her through stern eyes. Lightning only glanced in his direction for a quick milli-second before nodding and following Serah to the kitchen. She hadn't even been fully out of the dining room when she heard him apologizing on her behalf.

Serah already had her head in the stove when Lightning reached the island. "So… when were you going to tell me that you started hanging out with Snow? Or that you suddenly became the spokeswoman for Pulsian culture?" she asked before standing straight up and closing the oven door to let the roast cook longer.

"Sorry. You've been occupied with cheer," Lightning answered without answering, to Serah's dismay. She was visibly still seething over what had just happened in the living room. Serah wasn't sure what had done it exactly, but something definitely struck a raw nerve in there.

"You know, you can talk to me about these things…" Lightning was pulled from her thoughts of stabbing Rosch in the leg with a fork by the gentle hand that rested on her upper arm. "I'm starting to feel like I don't know what's going on in your life anymore."

Serah looked so hurt, but there was nothing that Lightning could do to comfort her right now. Not when she was this mad. "Then can you do me a favor?"

It wasn't the response that she was expecting, but Serah nodded anyway. Lightning strode over the freezer and dug all the way in the back to retrieve a block of brownish looking ice. She then placed it in a pot and set it over a high fire on the stove.

"This," Lightning began, leaning over the pot to watch the ice begin to thaw, "is leftover hedgehog chili soup. Since the roast still isn't done, serve this as the next course. But whatever you do, don't eat any yourself. If you can get away with it, don't give any to dad either, okay? Tell him it has that fish he's allergic to in it or something."

"Wait, you're going somewhere?" Serah asked as Lightning made her way to the kitchen door.

"I can't be here with him," Lightning admitted. "And at this point, I'm sure that dad would rather if I just left too."

"That's not true…"

"Just tell dad I wasn't feeling too good. I'll be back later tonight." Lightning didn't wait for another response before quickly slipping out the kitchen door.

* * *

"Soooo…" Snow dragged out nervously. "I'm just going to take that as a 'no, dinner didn't go so well'." He cautiously eyed the pinkette who marched next to him, her lips pursed in a tight line. As broody as she still seemed now, Snow had to admit that she was in a much better mood than she had been when she first appeared at his house. When he had first asked how her dinner with Yaag Rosch had gone, she got so worked up that she set a poor and defenseless nearby bush on fire. But a car ride downtown and a few blocks of walking later, she seemed to be more at peace over what had happened. Still tense as fuck… but nonetheless more at peace.

"You can say that," Lightning muttered, still not being able to get Rosch's eerie voice out of her head. She led the way, weaving through the people downstairs at the taco shack on her way to the other side of the building where the stairs to the roof were. It had been decided that they would all convene at their Hero Night meet-up spot to talk about their next steps forward after Light's dinner, with Hope being the only one left out due to his curfew.

"Was it bad in a 'the food was overcooked' kinda way, or bad in a 'oh my gosh, me and my team are totally screwed' kinda way?" Snow continued to prod as they ascended the stairs.

Lightning growled. "We're almost there. Can't you just wait until we get to the roof so I can tell everyone at the same time?" As the question escaped her lips, she forcefully pushed open the door at the top of the stairs.

Fang and Vanille sat against the railing that lined the side of the roof. Both of their heads whipped around at the sound of the door bursting open mixed with Lightning's annoyed voice. "Oi… that can't be good…" Fang murmured, looking toward Lightning with a hint of concern in her eyes.

"Hey, guys," Vanille greeted, although her tone also held a bit of worry to it. "Were you able to get any good information off the PSICOM guy?"

"Nothing useful," Lightning gruffly answered, walking to the middle of the roof. "Just that Rosch is a bigot. It sounds like they have no idea where the fal'Cie is and they're ready to place all the blame on the Gran Pulsians."

"So that good, huh?" Fang asked humourlessly, pulling away from the railing and getting to her feet. "Did he mention anything about what they're plannin' next?"

"Nothing." Lightning shook her head. "Just that they think a group of Gran Pulsian rebels broke into the Vestige to meet the fal'Cie. I think their agenda may be revolving around that idea."

"Hmm…" Fang looked to Vanille, who was rising to her feet beside her. "Well, his theory's kinda half right. I just wish he might have a bit of an idea of where Anima might've gone. Sets us back a bit with getting rid of this focus."

Lightning let her head drop to look at the floor. She had been so wrapped up in her feelings of disgust toward Rosch that she hadn't really thought about what their next step would be with getting rid of their curse. They had pretty much put all of their chickens in a basket for the 'fighting the fal'Cie' idea and they still had no clue as to what any of the images for their focus meant.

"I have an idea," she finally said after a silent moment of thought.

"That's a relief. I was pretty much shooting blanks," Snow commented, raising his hands behind his head.

"We tell my dad."

"Whoaaa, ho, ho!" Fang's immediately cut in. "I thought we already talked about that being a bad idea!"

"We talked about it being a bad idea AT THE TIME," Lightning corrected, staring hard into Fang's disturbed face. "You weren't at the dinner. He defended us when Rosch was trying to dig into our Vestige details. I'm sure he'll be willing to help us out. Plus, you said yourself that if your plan didn't work, we could go to him."

"Well, there's still one part of our plan that we haven't tried out yet." Vanille piped in timidly, attracting all eyes in her direction. "Probably a more stable plan than the last one, too. We can talk to Dia Opie."

"Dia Opie?" Snow asked. "Oh, let me guess. That means he comes from the same village as you, right?"

"Nah. No one knows exactly where he comes from," Fang informed, peeling her eyes away from Lightning to look at Snow instead. "Either that or no one wants to claim him. He's the oldest elder on the reservation anyway, so there probably aren't many people alive who can even confirm where he's from."

"That's all fine and mysterious, but how is he supposed to help us?" Lightning asked sharply, crossing her arms.

"He's a prophesier, one of the best there was in all of Gran Pulse," Vanille responded. "People used to travel far and wide to get their fortunes told by him. And even when he lost his vision, he was such a good prophesier, that it didn't even make a difference!"

Lightning quirked an eyebrow and turned her head in Fang's direction with a look of pure skepticism plastered across her face. "He's blind and he's a fortune teller?"

Fang shrugged. "If ya don't want to believe in that, he used to be a historian as well. Guy as old as him with that kind of info, he's definitely got some knowledge on the past l'cie ordeals. It'll probably be a major help."

"Tch." Lightning sucked her teeth and turned her head away. "If he'd be such a major help, then why are we just now deciding to see him?"

"He doesn't live in the main living area with the rest of us, so we had to track him down first," Vanille informed. "We only found out where he was staying a couple of weeks ago."

"And we couldn't have gone to see him then?"

"We had a plan then," Fang said. "So at the time, it didn't seem like the greatest option. We're a tight knit community on that reservation. When someone's been cast out to that extent… it's for a reason."

Lightning couldn't help but feel the hairs tingle along her spine at Fang's statement. Fang looked the girl's way and immediately picked up on her discomfort, so to quickly combat it, she followed up with, "But it's nothing to worry about. I remember him from when we fist moved here. He's a… lively soul. And I promise you, if this one doesn't lead anywhere, then we can tell yer dad everything."

Lightning sighed. "Now why do I feel like I've heard that one before?"

Fang just shrugged and tried to put on her most apologetic smile.

"Alrighty then," Snow announced, stretching his arms. "This meeting was much shorter yet just as stressful than I thought it'd be. But it's been settled! We go see Fang and Vanille's creepy old man, and if it doesn't work out, we get help from Lightning's creepy old man." Snow grinned at his cleverness but the grin quickly faltered and fizzled out into a grimace when he caught Lightning's hate-glare locked onto him. "Uhhhh, anybody up for ice cream?!" He broke into a power walk towards the door.

"I am!" Vanille called, jumping up to follow.

Lightning softly shook her head at Snow's attempt of avoidance. "I'll pass. I'm supposed to be meeting Lebreau at the arcade place down the block."

"You like arcades?" Fang asked, stepping to walk besides Lightning as the other two l'cie waited impatiently at the door.

"I like them better than home right now," Lightning returned.

Fang just nodded before looking towards Snow and Vanille. "Uhh, you two go on ahead. I'll walk with Light to the arcade and meet up with y'all after."

"Want me to buy you anything?" Vanille asked

Fang shook her head in response and Vanille just shrugged, still holding the door for the older teens to enter before making her way down the stairs after Snow.

Fang and Lightning remained quiet until Snow and Vanille made a turn down the street towards the ice cream place. Fang turned her head to look after them for a moment before resting her sights on Light. "We… Guess we haven't really had much time to talk these past couple days, huh?"

Lightning allowed her brows to furrow a slight bit while she continued to look forward down the street as she walked. It air seemed to be much warmer down here than it was on the roof, causing Lightning to uncomfortably roll her shoulders as she felt sweat beginning to form under her arms. "We've talked a lot these past couple days."

"Technically, yeah," Fang breathed out lightheartedly, lifting her hand to run through her hair. "I guess what I meant to say is, we haven't really non-strategized. Or, uh, we haven't really had time to just talk. Alone."

Lightning could feel a nervous flutter stir within her stomach. She hadn't really realized it, but the last time that the two of them had been alone was on her doorstep those couple of nights ago. Or maybe she had realized it, and in the back of her mind kept plotting ways to keep her distance. Either way, it didn't matter now. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you valued our one-on-one time so much." Lightning internally winced. That came out sounding a bit harsher than she had expected.

Fang smiled sheepishly for a quick moment and stuffed her hands in her pockets, hiking her shoulders. "I do."

Light's whole stomach was definitely aflutter now, and to top it off, those traitorous cheeks of hers were already warming up. Fang nervously peeped at Light beside her and slowly exhaled before continuing. "And I guess I'm sorry about being all combative up there. It's just that anything PSICOM kinda makes my skin crawl, ya know? D'ya think your dad's still mad at me?"

Light's head darted in Fang's direction for a brief moment, not being able to control the look of surprise that flashed across her face before turning forward again. Neither the question nor idea was shocking at all. It was just that Lightning's body was slowly starting to become more aware that this was the first time she and Fang had been alone since that kiss and it was, for lack of a better phrase, pretty much starting to freak out. She wasn't sure what she had originally expected to hear from Fang, but for some reason she couldn't stop herself from being anxious about what would be said next while being somewhat upset that the first subject of conversation was the kiss Fang had shared with her father. Lightning shook her head of it and sighed. "There's so many things that piss him off in a day, it's hard to tell whether you're what he's currently mad at or not."

"Heh," Fang let out a relieved breath. "I knew I should've called him back in the morning." Light's face remained stoic and unphased by the joke, which made Fang feel uneasier than she already was. "I should probably start apologizing to him too in case this Dia Opie thing doesn't pan out. Like send him a fruit basket. Or a water bottle filled with the tears of Gran Pulsian children."

"Fang…"

"Sorry. Couldn't help myself with that one." Fang lightly grinned at her joke before earnestly peering at Lightning. "And the two of us… I didn't make it weird or take it too far the other day, did—"

"No."

Fang's brows lifted and a small light lit behind her eyes at Light's immediate answer. On the other hand, Lightning's face flared as she wished that there were a way to go back in time and stop herself from just blurting the first word that had popped into her head. She didn't mean to sound that enthusiastic. She hadn't really been thinking with her brain at all when Fang was talking. The word just seemed to fly out. "I-I mean, we're okay. I know how you are," she quickly recovered. "No need to worry about it."

"Oh." That light in Fang's eyes dimmed. "Yeah, guess ya do know how I am."

A weird silence fell between the two as they continued to walk. Lightning was usually one who favored these types of moments over others, but she had to admit that this silence was even uncomfortable for her. "So," she began, wanting anything to break the tension, "how did your track meet go?"

"Not bad," Fang replied, lightening back up a little. "I placed in all my events, and I heard the team got second overall. Remember that recruiter I told ya about the other day? Turns out, he's comin' to the meet this weekend. He's mostly looking at seniors, but my coach tells me there's word that I'm on the radar for recruitment next year."

"Wow." The side of Lightning's mouth pulled up into a bit of an admiring smile. "That's great."

"Yeah," Fang grinned modestly. "Ya know, if you're not doing anything that day, you should come. They're usually a lot of fun, and it might make me look better if I have a bigger cheering section than just Vanille. You can even bring your sister. She's a professional, right?"

"Sure, she is," Light chuckled lightly, rolling her eyes. "But it does sound fun. I'll be there."

A pleased smile spread across Fang's face before her green eyes locked onto something down the street. "There's Lebreau."

Lightning followed her gaze, and sure enough found Lebreau standing farther down the sidewalk waiting for them. She stood with her arms loosely folded against her chest and her weight shifted to one side so that her hip was jutting out. On her face, she wore a subdued, close-lipped grin.

"Fang, I didn't expect to see you here," the brunette greeted in an amused voice as the two approached her.

"Yeah, I bumped into Light a couple blocks away and thought I'd just walk her over," Fang replied, her smile still lingering from moments ago. "But now that she's here and you're here, I should probably be going back over there."

Lightning softly smiled at Fang's wordplay, even more so at the hand motions she had used when accentuating the 'heres' and 'theres'.

"Aww, you don't want to stay and hang with us?" Lebreau asked somewhat dejectedly.

"Wish I could, but I've gotta find Vanille and return the car home. Ya know how it goes," Fang said with a shrug.

"That's too bad. But your ass is definitely going to Snow and Gadot's party this weekend, right? Should be interesting. I'm handling the refreshments and Light's finally going to be forced to partake in organized fun."

"Oh, really?" Fang asked as Lightning gave Lebreau an annoyed look. "If that's the case, I guess my ass can't refuse, now can it?"

"That's the spirit!"

Fang chuckled and lightly shook her head. "Alright, alright. See ya, Lebreau. And guess I'll catch ya later, Light." Fang nodded her head as a good-bye gesture and let her eyes rest on Light for one last second before turning to head back down the street again.

"Bye," Lightning nodded, letting a soft smile remain on her face as she watched Fang leave.

Lebreau's eyes jumped back and forth from the back of Fang's head to Lightning's face for a moment. They then slit as she watched Lightning's face a little more closely, before turning to Fang again. So her friend wasn't exactly checking out the Pulsian's backside as she walked away, but the elongated lingering gaze was more than enough proof for her that something was up. "Alright, Googly Eyes," she finally called in a loud voice to startle Lightning. "So how long has this Fang thing been going on?"

"Fang thing?"

"Don't play coy with me," Lebreau warned, pointing an admonishing finger in Light's direction. "I could smell, hell, damn near taste the pheromones coming off of you two! And from the thickness of it," Lebreau paused to take two loud sniffs in the air, "you've been liking on her for over a month!"

"Liking? Just calm down a second, Breau. I DON'T like Fang. Like, like-like Fang," Lightning defended, raising a hand defensively at Lebreau.

In return, Lebreau gave her a dull look. "Oh, you don't? Then why are your cheeks pinker than your roots? And why are you still smiling? You never smile like that! Last time I looked that goofy watching a person leave was when… nooo. HAVE YOU TWO GOTTEN PHYSICAL?!"

"What?" Lightning's brows made a heavy crease and she could now feel her skin burning. "No! I mean, she did kiss me that one time—"

"She kissed you?!" In the blink of an eye, Lebreau had appeared all up in Lightning's personal bubble and was tightly grasping her hands as she leaned forward into the girl's face. "When? How? For how long? I need deets! What did you do after?"

"Well…" Light's eyes fell downward as she recollected the memory in her head. "It all happened so fast, I didn't really have much time to do anything before she kissed my dad."

"Oh." Lebreau's grip on Light's hands loosened a bit. "Kinky…"

"Breau!"

"My bad. So how did it feel?"

Light looked at her friend with a confused expression, causing Lebreau to sigh in exasperation. "The kiss! How did it feel when she kissed you?"

"Oh." Lightning looked back down to think again. How could she properly describe it? Soft. Warm. Gentle. Nice. She could probably try to explain how when their lips touched, it felt as if everything somehow sped up but slowed down at the exact same time. She could also try to explain how her body's thermostat went totally haywire. Or maybe she could talk about how even though the kiss lasted for only a second, she could still feel Fang's lips against hers for the rest of the night… could vividly remember their closeness and the heat emanating from her body. Or how all these feelings seemed to come back again once she and Fang had gotten alone together, so much so that she had actually found herself a bit disappointed when Fang had walked away without wishing her luck.

Lightning's eyes widened as she lifted her head in realization.

Holy shit…

She liked Fang.

Lebreau gave Light's hands a tight squeeze as she smiled giddily across from her.

"Yes! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Lebreau was practically singing.

Lightning was still in a state of shock when Lebreau had started skipping around her in circles singing some song about getting it on. "Breau, can you at least pretend to not enjoy this so much?" Light groaned.

"I don't know. Can you at least pretend to enjoy it a little bit more?" Lebreau returned. "So you like Fang, and Fang's a babe. When are you going to make a move?"

Lightning's dumbfounded expression was enough of an answer.

"Light! You just can't sit on this information! Fang's already kissed you and the man responsible for your creation once. The ball's in your court, honey. You've got to start making plays! Ooohh! Ooooh! Etro, why are we so slow?! The party! You can make a move on her at the party! It's perfect!"

"Lebreau, I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Why not? This doesn't have anything to do with her being Pulsian, does it? I mean, some people might not like it, but it's none of their business."

"No, of course that's not it. And it's Gran Pulsian. It's just… it's just not good timing. I'm not even sure how Fang feels about me—"

"False," Lebreau cut in bluntly, giving a Lightning a smart look.

Light only paused to meet Lebreau's challenging stare for a short moment before continuing on, "And there's a lot going on in my life right now that doesn't need that type of attention drawn to it. So can you do me a favor and just leave it alone?"

Lebreau glared at Light through uncomprehending eyes but still nodded. "Whatever you say."

A small wave of relief smoothed over and relaxed Lightning's features. "Thanks. Now let's get inside. I skipped dinner, so I could use something to eat."

"Sure thing." Lebreau followed Lightning into the arcade building with a devious spark in her eyes. Whether Lightning agreed to it or not, something was going to happen at that party.


	18. Chapter 18

Lightning ducked just in time to miss the swift slice of the oncoming javelin and grunted at the impact when she lifted her blade up to block the weapon's following downward strike. With a huge surge of strength, she pushed her blade upwards to throw the javelin and its wielder backwards, giving her enough time to jump back in the opposite direction and recoup.

"Are you alright?" Fang asked through laboured breaths, standing straight up with an apprehensive look on her face instead of rushing to start another onslaught of attacks. "Usually I'm the one on the defensive. Ya seem a bit… distracted today."

"I'm fine," Lightning dismissively responded, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand before crouching back into a fighting stance.

"You sure ya don't wanna just take a break?" Fang asked uncertainly. "I'm starting to feel like I'm taking advantage of ya."

Lightning ground her teeth. Something about this whole situation wasn't right. Fang was the one who pushed her lips onto Light's, not the other way around. So why was it that Light was the one left feeling all tense and awkward every time they were together instead of her?

"I don't need a break. I just need you to stop talking and start fighting again," Light snapped.

Fang's eyes rounded in surprise at her partner's snippy comment. "Well, excuse me," she said, following suit behind Lightning and getting into a fighting position. "No need to work yourself up into a tizzy."

But Lightning had indeed 'worked herself up into a tizzy', and immediately started sprinting towards the taller girl with her weapon at the ready. With a low growl, she began to assault the Gran Pulsian with a barrage of quick, successive hits.

Fang was totally caught off guard by the intensity of it all and struggled with her balance as she tried to keep up. "Aye! Can ya calm down?! Ahhh!"

Fang ducked and swung her javelin low in order to sweep Lightning's feet. Light hadn't been expecting the move at all and tumbled over easily while Fang turned away. She grabbed at the bottom of her shirt to pull up and dab at her cheek, letting out a soft, hissing sound as the cloth touched her skin. "Alright, G.I. Jane," she asked in a reproachful voice, turning around to face Lightning again. "What'd ya do to my face?"

Whatever red Lightning had been seeing before quickly faded away when she saw the actual red of blood smearing Fang's right cheek and splotching the bottom of her shirt. "Fang." She quickly hopped back on her feet and approached the girl with quick steps. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go at you like that. It's just my mind's been cluttered these past couple days and just… a lot of stuff has been weighing on me that I need to work out. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"Meh," Fang just shrugged off. "Probably means I need to quicken my defenses. If some crazy chick on her period ever comes afterrr-IIII'm just gonna stop while I'm ahead." Fang's statement slowly morphed on seeing the reprimanding glare that Light was now aiming at her.

Light shook her head and lightly touched Fang's chin, gently turning it so that she could get a better view of the cut. "It's big," she stated. It almost spanned the entire distance across her cheek, not leaving Light much room on Fang's face to touch it without getting blood all over her hand. "Let's get something to clean it up with, then I'll see about healing you."

Light led the way back to Fang's car where she started going to work on Fang's cheek. She felt extremely self-conscious as she became more and more aware of Fang's eyes following her every move. "Here," she finally said, plastering a big bandage across Fang's cheek before gently cupping it with her hand. She only allowed herself a fleeting moment to glance into Fang's deep green eyes, which were still intently focused on her, before bringing her full attention back to the cheek. Her fingers tingled as a green glow emanated from her hand.

When the glow had subsided, Light took her time in slowly sliding her hand down from Fang's cheek, but was stopped by the other girl's tanned hand pressing against her own to hold it in place. "Wait," Fang said, bringing Light's attention back to her eyes. "It doesn't feel like that healed it."

Lightning's brow furrowed as she tried to look over the wound. However, it was of no use. The bandage was big and thick enough to where she wasn't able to see the cut at all. "Are you sure?" Light asked.

"Positive. It must be some special material from the bandage that's blockading the magic."

Lightning quirked an eyebrow, which caused Fang to grin and shrug bashfully. "Vanille practices a lot with different things."

"The real question is where she gets her test subjects," Light murmured. "Okay. So do I have to take the bandage off, or is there a way around it?"

"There's a way around it," Fang confirmed, looking attentively at Lightning as if waiting to gauge her reaction. "More contact."

"Oh…" Lightning's mind immediately went to an inappropriate place, causing her to take a hard swallow. "How much contact?"

"It all depends on the injury and material, so it's kind of a trial and error thing," Fang explained. "Here, let's start out with this." She gently grabbed Lightning's free hand to place against her other cheek. "Now try."

"O-okay." Light took a deep breath and let her magic take hold again, this time closing her eyes so as not to fall prey to Fang's mesmerizing stare. When she opened them, she was greeted to Fang shaking her head.

"Still didn't work," she pointed out. "How 'bout this… Keep those there," she let the hands that had been holding Light's hands against her cheeks slip away to instead wrap snugly around the pinkette's waist and pull her flush against her body. She then leaned forward so that their foreheads were resting against each other. "This oughta work, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lightning breathed heavily, trying to maintain her cool and pretend that it wasn't taking all of her strength to keep her legs from shaking.

Light once again closed her eyes and summoned her healing magic. When she opened them again, she was met with such an intense gaze from her sparring partner that it sent an uncontrollable shiver down her spine. "Fang…" she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "If you tell me that didn't work, I don't think there's a way for us to get any closer."

Lightning could feel Fang's forehead wrinkle against her own as her brows somewhat creased in thought. "That's not entirely true."

Keeping her cool was becoming a more and more difficult task as Lightning felt Fang's hands begin to run up her back, sensually rubbing against the back of her shirt as she did so. Even breathing was starting to become more of a struggle as Fang's forehead twisted against her own, giving her head the slightest tilt that made it so much easier for Lightning to feel the other girl's steady breaths brush against her lips. Light lifted her eyes once more to meet that deep green stare.

She couldn't take this anymore.

Before she could think better of it, she moved in.

The very next thing Light registered was feeling the press of Fang's lips moving against hers, slowly at first but steadily growing in intensity. As if they had a mind of their own, Lightning's hands strayed from Fang's cheeks, one moving to play with the soft curls at the nape of her neck and the other snaking behind her head to full-on dig into her scalp and pull her in closer.

Fang groaned and tightened the grip she had around Lightning's body. The bumper of Fang's car pressed into the back of Light's knees as Fang's body pushed against hers, their lips still hungrily grabbing and pulling at each other. Fang finally pulled away, taking in quick breaths as she gazed at Lightning through clouded eyes, a smirk partially tugging at her lips as her eyes flitting from Lightning to the hood of the car. With one swift motion, she easily scooped the girl up and gently laid her on top of the vehicle, running a hand down Light's leg and hiking it up behind the knee to wrap around her waist as she leaned over her.

Light couldn't help but smirk herself as Fang slowly crawled on top of her. There was just something invigorating about that dark look in the Gran Pulsian's eyes and that predatory way her body was hovering over hers. Lightning lifted both hands to wrap around Fang's neck and pull her back towards her lips. Fang released a low, satisfied grunt as she obliged, giving Lightning a slow, lingering kiss before dragging her lips away from Light's face in order to place soft kisses behind her ear, running a trail down to her neck.

Light fought back a soft moan as she felt the sensation of tongue brushing against her skin coupled with the feeling of Fang's hand dipping under her shirt to stroke her stomach. When the appendage didn't receive any opposition from the pink-head, the hand continued its journey upward, opening up to cup its plump prize and earning another strained groan from Lightning when it did so.

"Mmmm…huh?"

Light looked up confoundedly when she felt Fang's mouth detach itself from her neck. Fang lifted herself up from Light a bit to stare down at the hand hidden beneath the other girl's shirt. Light could feel the pad of her thumb slowly caressing the skin right above her breast that the rest of her fingers were still cupping.

It was where her brand was located.

"Fang?" Lightning asked softly, starting to feel more and more insecure about the situation as Fang's facial features started twisting deeper and deeper into one of confusion and deep thought. "…Fang?"

Fang finally lifted her eyes to meet Light's again, just staring at her with a breadth of raw emotion that Lightning just couldn't place while that thumb still grazed over the skin under her shirt. Finally, Fang opened her mouth to speak, but that usual accented voice was not what came out. Instead, it had been replaced with a loud, quaking, "RAAAAAWWWWWHHHHHRRRRR!"

"Ahhhhh!" Lightning shot up in her bed, hand unabashedly gripping her breast. Her body was soaked and trembling, and on her nightstand the alarm was buzzing.

Taking in deep breaths, Light tried to calm herself down. That was DEFINITELY a change from the usual dreams she had had concerning her brand. She tiredly threw her hand over to slam against the off switch of her alarm to stop its buzzing.

As she began to relax again, she noticed that her hand was still cupping her breast. As random images of her glued to Fang's lips and Fang leaning over her with that steamy look in her eyes passed through the forefront of her mind, she idly rubbed her thumb over her brand, just as Fang had done in the dream. It sent an immediate tremor through her body, causing her to quickly remove her hand from her chest. She knew that she didn't miss the erratic visions of her focus that haunted her dreams every other night, but she was sure as hell positive that she didn't want her body to be this wound up in the mornings either. Etro, this would never have been an issue if Lebreau wouldn't have started that whole 'liking Fang' conversation.

"Arggh…" she tiredly snatched a pillow from behind her to cover her face as she flopped back down to the mattress. "Fuuuuuuugggggggg, Leebbbbboowwwwww!"

* * *

"Exactly how much farther do we have to hike again?" Snow called ahead to Vanille, who was leading the group through the dense forest a few feet ahead of him.

"Shouldn't be much further!" Vanille hollered back without turning around.

"You said that twenty minutes ago," Snow groused, whacking a branch out of his way as he continued to move forward. In his other hand, he gripped a long walking stick that he had found on the ground not too far after their first mile, which was right around the time when he had taken off his shirt to wrap around his head over his usual bandana. It actually made him look quite the character.

"Whoa!" Fang yelled from her place in the line behind Snow. "Don't tell me you're not havin' fun up there!"

Snow peeked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Fang. "You're enjoying this?"

"Hehehe," the girl gave a low, husky chuckle. "With a view like mine, how couldn't I?" She then winked at the boy.

A wide grin lit up across Snow's face. "So this is all about the gun show, huh? You should've said something earlier! I would've brought out the canons!" With that, Snow started flexing so that his muscles bulged insanely. "Hazaahhhh!"

"Ummm… SWOOOON!" Fang excitedly cooed from behind.

Hope laughed at the two older teens as Snow twisted his arms into different flexing positions while Fang continued to play the part of an eccentric fangirl. With a smile still on his face, he glanced over his shoulder to check on Light. There was only one rule that their group had made when they started off on this trip, and that was that under no circumstances was Hope to be the last person in line. He, of course, thought the rule was ageist, but didn't make any arguments about it.

Unlike her two classmates, Lightning didn't seem to find any redeeming qualities in their wooded trek at all. She watched the Snow and Fang show for only a few moments before putting on a discontent face and bringing her attention to the trees instead.

"Hey, Light," Hope called with a look of genuine concern on his face, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," Lightning responded dully, taking a high step to walk over a fallen tree branch.

"Do you want any company back there? You seem kind of quiet."

"No, Hope, really. I'm fine. Although I do find it a bit disconcerting that we're travelling, unbeknownst to anyone who can tell authorities where we are if we go missing, miles into uncharted territory to meet a magical hermit who was cast out by his own people. Am I the only one who finds that disconcerting?"

Hope gave Lightning a hesitant look, not really sure how to answer. He jumped a bit when an assuring hand rested on his shoulder. "Don't worry, small fry. I'll take this one."

Hope just nodded and quickened his pace to catch up more with Snow while Fang stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for Light to reach her. Light made a low grumbling sound as she approached Fang and shot her a long side eye when they began walking in step. "That wasn't an invitation for you to come back here, you know."

"I know," Fang replied with an airy shrug of her shoulders. "But it just seemed like you could use some company. You've been actin' extra distant today. Something the matter?"

"I told you what's the matter," Lightning stated gruffly, keeping her eyes trained forward and not turning to look at Fang.

"Oh, really? You were ready to jump into battle with a fal'Cie, but now you're gettin' fidgety over an old blind man?" Fang made an exaggerated duck face to show her disbelief. "I call bullshit."

Lightning just grunted and continued to walk.

Fang let out a deep breath as she watched the rigid girl, racking her mind for reasons as to why she might be so off-balance today. That's when it hit her. She took a side step to shorten the distance between her and Light a bit more before leaning over and asking in a low voice, "You had a bad dream, didn't you?"

"What?" Lightning's stomach dropped.

"Your dreams," Fang reiterated. "The focus images. Did they wake you up again?"

"I-uh, no! I'm not having bad dreams! I mean, my dreams aren't bother—I'm just fine. Okay?" Lightning stumbled through her retort. "I just want to get this walk over in peace."

Fang was sure that it just had to be her dreams. It was the only explanation as to why Lightning suddenly got so much more defensive when asked about them. With those kind of problems plaguing her at night, the girl was probably just tired. With a determined look on her face, Fang shot forward, jogging a few steps to get a sizeable distance ahead of Lightning. "How 'bout this?" she called, bending over.

Lightning's eyes grew wide in alarm as Fang's backside was suddenly tooted right at her.

"Hop on and I'll give ya a piggyback ride the rest of the way!"

"I…" For a moment, Lighting actually considered taking the piggyback ride. It had been a long and tiring walk so far. It would be so much easy if she could just hop on Fang's back, wrap her legs around the girl's waist, and just be done… but the image of Fang hovering over her on the hood of her car, hiking one of Light's legs up to wrap around her in the process quickly flashed across Light's eyes. No, no, no, no. Not a good idea. Ugh, there weren't enough swear words in her vocabulary to fling at Lebreau right now…

"C'monnnn!" Fang continued to goad, now playfully wiggling her butt at Lightning. "I've got extra strength. It won't slow me down any."

"Fang, I don't think—"

"Guys!" Vanille's voice chirped from further ahead. "We're here!"

"Hm?" Fang straightened herself up again and inquisitively took off into a brisk stride after the other l'Cie. Lightning let out a quiet breath of relief and followed, thanking all the divine forces that may have had a hand in getting her out of that situation.

Hidden within the trees, not too far away from where they stood, was a rough and shoddy looking cabin. Everything about the small house just seemed seedy. None of the walls appeared to be the same height and the one visible window looked as if it had been built tilted.

Lightning studied the structure skeptically, happy to finally be able to concentrate on something a little more bizarre than her dream last night. "How can a blind man build a house?" she finally asked, folding her arms.

"Magic!" Snow gasped in an excited whisper, popping open his hands and wiggling his fingers.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Fang mused, placing her hands on her hips to also examine the home. "No self-respecting man with sight would've built this piece of crap."

"Looks a bit creepy," Hope added as he eyed the building.

"Yeah, it kind of does…" Vanille agreed with a hand rubbing her chin. "Let's knock on the door!"

"Huh?" Hope swung his head worriedly in Vanille's direction, but she had already broke into a skip towards the cabin.

"Aye! Watch out when ya touch that!" Fang hissed, walking after her. "The whole thing looks like the birthplace of the splinter."

Vanille hopped to a stop in front of the cabin's misshapen door and gave it a couple of light raps with her knuckles as the rest of her the group cautiously approached from behind her.

Two long seconds passed before a cracked voice croaked, "It's open," from the inside.

Vanille turned around to check the faces of everyone behind her. "Ready?" she asked quietly, and was answered unanimously by nods from everyone. "Kay. Here goes."

With that she gently gripped the knob and pushed the door open.

The first distinct thing that Lightning could make of the inside of the house was the smell. Before she had even take her first step in, her nose was greeted by the pungent odor of what she wanted to peg as a mixture of dirty socks and urine. She instinctively wrinkled her face as she stepped further inside.

After she had somewhat wrapped her head around the smell of the home, it was then that Lightning tried to take in the rest of her surroundings. There was a murky haze that seemed to fill the dusky place, making it hard to discern what any of the shadowy structures in the room were, especially since the only sources of light were the few beams that were able to shine through the wooly-looking curtain that blocked the lopsided window.

"Well, well, well…" the cracked voice hummed. Lightning squinted her eyes through the haze to land on the smoky outline of a tall chair a few feet away. "I've been awaiting you."

A step ahead of her, Light could hear Vanille make a soft gasping noise. "So everything they say is true… You are a great prophesier."

"Great prophesier…" the voice repeated lowly. "Prophesying had nothing to do with it! With all the racket you lot made outside on your way getting here, I coulda predicted y'all dragging in here if I was deaf and dumb, too! Hey! Bumbles!" the voice called out just as Snow bumped into a small table, "If you're having problems seeing, there's a lamp on one of the thingies around here. Crank it up."

The room filled with the sound of shuffling as each l'Cie cautiously moved around, arms outstretched as to not bump into anything else, in search of the lamp. "Got it," Hope announced. A moment later, a warm orange glow appeared from the left side of the room and continued to grow until the whole area was now dimly lit.

The smoky haze still remained, adding some fuzz to Lightning's vision, but she was now able to make a better assessment of her surroundings. The cabin was obviously only a one-room home. Slanted shelved were carved into the walls and filled with various trinkets, pots, urns, and other objects that Lightning didn't know what to make of. All around the room were different trays and tables, each piled with plants and bowls filled with mystery liquids or ground substances. Near the back of the room was a slim cot and sitting against the back of the middle wall was a tall, cushioned chair. Seated in the chair was the hunched figure of a bald, shrunken man.

"Dia Opie," Vanille greeted in the most serious tone Lightning had ever heard her use, "We know that you have had your issues with the rest of the reservation clans in the past, but we come to you now with the most sincerest of apologies, hoping that we can put these differences aside for a day in order to find the solution to a horrible happenstance that has fallen upon us."

Dia Opie tilted his head curiously. He was quite a wrinkly old man and his skin was covered in dark splotches. He had wild, bushy eyebrows that that made big, gray upside V's on his forehead, yet they somehow served as the perfect buffer to distract from his blank, milky-white eyes.

"Heeheehee! Oh, isn't that unpredictable?" Opie's face lit into one of amusement. "You're using my clanswoman as your spokesperson! Hmph." All the amusement immediately left his face as his expression dropped into a grouchy stare. "Well listen here, little Dia, everyone always wants to put our differences aside when they need something…"

"Pssst," Lightning whispered from the corner of her mouth, hoping to get the attention of her sparring partner. However, Fang was busy glaring Opie down from her spot a foot away. The blind man had somehow shifted his conversation with Vanille from the downfalls of being a suck-up to asking about the well being of some woman on the reservation named Willow.

Fang was so engrossed in Opie's recollections that she didn't notice Lightning trying to call her. She just stood, arms folded, with a displeased look on her face as the blind man continued to talk.

"Don't let the arthritis fool ya. That woman's as spry as a spring chicken…"

"Pssst!" Lightning repeated again, reaching out an elbow to lightly tap Fang's upper arm. Thankfully, Fang finally turned Lightning's way.

"Gods, I don't think this can get any more disgusting," she breathed, giving Lightning a look that damn near begged her to tell her something to get her mind off of the topic currently being discussed in the room.

"Why was he cast out?" Lightning mouthed slowly, not wanting to be heard by the elder in the room. Between the smell, cluttered mess, and seemingly bipolarness, she was having a hard time making her own educated guess on the matter.

Fang turned her head to begrudgingly peek at the old man before sidling closer to Lightning and leaning in so close that her Lightning could feel her breath warming the side of her earlobe. "The Dias are pretty much known throughout Gran Pulse for their extensive knowledge of herbal remedies, right? Well, word is that Opie here started gettin' really experimental with 'certain' plants. After the third month of the real heavy hallucinations, he was asked to choose between the clan and the concoctions."

Lightning cocked her head back and whirled around to face Fang. Her eyes widened before slitting dangerously at the other girl. "He's a drug addict?!" she hissed.

"And you!"

Light froze. She forgot that her intent had been to be quiet enough so that Opie would not overhear her. She slowly turned her head to meet the calm, white stare of the elder, who was now rubbing his hands in his lap. "All of you are not of Gran Pulse," the old man stated in more of an out loud observation than an actual conversation piece. "But if ya have any questions about me, please ask me and not the Yun girl."

Fang's eyebrows rose at Opie's correct guess of her clan, but before either she or Lightning could ask anything more of the man, Hope beat them to punch. "Well, I was actually wondering… Did you build this whole house by yourself? And where's the bathroom? Or do you just go out in the woods?"

"Ah—" Opie opened his mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by Snow.

"Ewww, nope." The brawny boy stood near a table in front of one walls in the front of the house with a pained look on his face. One of his hands was placing the lid back down on top a wide, flower-decorated vase while his other hand was raised in a way so that his nose was buried into the inside of his elbow. "I think I found the restroom," he coughed.

"And of course, it got more disgusting," Fang mumbled as Lightning made a horrified face in the vase's direction.

"HEY!" Opie snapped, swinging his head toward Snow. "Stop touching my stuff! What kind of disrespectful lot are ya? Coming to my house asking for favors but not wanting to mind your own manners while you're here? If there's one thing that hasn't changed in a hundred years, it's the fal'Cies' picking standards."

And with that one statement, the room fell deathly silent.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Opie grumbled, waving a careless hand in the air. "You lot reek of fal'Cie handiwork. I haven't been separated long enough to forget the reasons as to why a group of young, educated Cocoonians and two poor, Gran Pulsian orphans would come together to ask for my help. So who wants to start off? Oi! Yun girl! Hand me that cylinder on the shelf over there."

Fang scrunched her eyebrows at the gruff request but consented anyway, sauntering over to one of the wall-shelves. "And ya talk about our manners…" she griped as she grabbed a nicely sized, hollow cylinder from the shelf.

"Orphans?" Lightning asked herself. She didn't know Fang and Vanille were orphans. She was actually pretty sure that she had heard a few conversations that referenced living parents.

"You didn't know that?"

Lightning quickly turned her head to look up at Snow. She must've been thinking out loud. So she just shrugged and looked back towards Opie, hoping Snow would do the same.

"Okay… well I guess I'll start then," Vanille said uneasily, following Fang across the room with her eyes before focusing back on Opie. "Since the cat's out the bag, we can just say what we need help—"

WHAP!

"OWW!"

Vanille halted in mid-sentence, watching through shocked eyes as Fang jumped backwards, scowling at Opie while holding a hand on top of her head. "Ya geriatric, old loon! What the hell was that for?!"

"Heeheehee, you deserved it! I heard you outside," Opie accused, waggling a sock filled with unidentifiable objects at the older Gran Pulsian. "My house is NOT a piece of crap! And stop tellin' all my business to strangers! Now you. Dia girl. Go on."

"Oh." Vanille startled at regaining Opie's attention so quickly again. "Yeah, I guess as I was saying, we all had an unpleasant run-in with the fal'Cie, Anima, and he turned us into his l'Cie."

Lightning watched Fang curiously as Vanille spoke. The dark haired girl never left from Opie's area after getting whopped in the head with his sock, but instead seemed to be searching the shelves and tables around him for an object with which to enact her revenge. Light softly shook her head. If there was one thing she could say about Fang, it was that the girl obviously didn't believe in discrimination against the disabled.

"Our original plan was to face Anima again and see where that went, but that kinda fell through," Vanille continued with her explanation. "So now we feel like we're stuck and we don't know who else to turn to."

"Hmmmmm…" Opie lifted a hand to rub his stubby chin with. "Stuck, ya say? Weren't you lot given a focus?"

Fang smirked as she zeroed her vision in on what looked to be a toy, similar to a fishing rod with a rubber ball attached to the end of the line. It had been a while since she had done anything fishing related; usually that was Vanille's forte. However, she could definitely see herself getting enough good poke-poke-reel-in action out of the toy to annoy the hell out of the blind man. So with this plan set in her mind, she slowly started inching over towards the shelf and lifting her hand towards the assumed plaything.

"Uh, yeah." Meanwhile, Snow had picked up where Vanille had left off in answering Opie's questions. "We did. It's kind of cool, cause we all got the same one too."

"Ohhh, all the same focus, eh?" With lightning quick reflexes, Opie's arm shot outwards to grab Fang's wrist, which was still moving towards the toy on one of the above shelves. "That's not—"

Opie paused mid-response. His head slowly turned away from Snow to face Fang instead, the expression on his face darkening as his ghostly eyes rose to meet Fang's green ones.

Fang immediately forgot all about the rod that she had previously been focused on. She didn't know why, but a feeling of shame seemed to wash over her in that instant. She had no doubt that it had something to do with the troubled way that Opie was staring at her. His vacant eyes shifted and flitted around in his sockets, almost seeming as if they were actually studying the girls face until they stopped directly at her eyes again. It felt more as if the old man was looking into her, seeing something that everyone else in the room couldn't… And it was obvious that he was not pleased with the view.

Fang was the first to break 'eye contact' by quickly turning her head away to examine the floor, making sure to pull her hand from his grip as she did so.

Opie stared after her a second longer, eerily as if he could actually see her reaction, before slowly turning his head back to Snow. His expression lightened again as he finished his previous statement, "…not too uncommon."

Lightning's brows creased at the sudden change in demeanor, not so much Opie's but more so Fang's. The moment that Opie had turned to her with that grave look on his face, something had changed in her too. That mischievous smirk she had been wearing in anticipation of her prank had faded once she locked eyes with the elder, and instead had been replaced with something akin to disgrace. Even now, the girl still had yet to lift her eyes from the floor.

"The fal'Cie aren't stupid. They know success comes in greater numbers." Opie scooted forward in his chair before gripping the arm rests to pull himself into a standing position. "Tell me, then. What is this 'shared' focus that you lot have been given?"

With the cylinder in hand, Opie hobbled over to a nearby tray to grab a handful of colorful dust that sat in a huge bowl. The l'Cie watched him carefully as he threw the dust into the cylinder and hobbled over to a shelf to grab a few bottles of colorful liquids to pour into the cylinder as well. "Well?" he asked in a loud voice, whirling the cylinder around to mix the contents as he made his way back to his chair.

"Oh… uhhh… that's sort of the problem," Hope timidly spoke up when no one else did. "We have these really quick flashes, but we're not able to piece them together well enough to figure the focus out."

"Hmmm," Opie hummed, taking his seat again. "Well, that I may be able to help you lot with."

"You can tell us what our focus is?" Vanille asked optimistically.

"Heeheehee, oh no, my dear." Opie reached under the cushion of his chair and dug his hand around. Suddenly, a crooked smile emerged on his face and he whipped his hand back out, this time holding a small, fuzzy little ball of gunk. "But I can show you."

Opie dropped the small, fuzzy mass that he held between his fingers into the cylinder. A soft popping sound broke through the air as a rush of thick smoke began to spill out of the container. Lightning stiffened and leaned forward on the balls of her feet to get a better view.

"So which one of you lot will it be?"

"Pardon?" Vanille asked, her eyes also glued to the overflowing cylinder. Truth be told, the only person in the room whose eyes weren't trained on the cylinder was Fang.

"I need a volunteer in order for this to work," Opie stated. "And I'd rather it be one of my new Cocoon friends. Clanswoman, why don't you dim the lamp though? It'll make it easier for you lot to see."

Vanille nodded and walked over to the lamp while Lightning, Hope, and Snow all exchanged insecure looks between each other.

Hope let out a deep breath and took a step forward toward Opie, but was yanked back by Lightning tugging at his arm. "Snow," she mouthed to the older boy in the room. "You. Go."

Snow's eyes grew in shock as a soft whimper inadvertently escaped his lips. "Why me?" me mouthed back, pointing a questioning finger to his chest.

Lightning fought hard to keep herself from growling at the boy. "You're. The. Strongest," she slowly mouthed in reply, pointing an angry finger at him then at Opie. "BE. A. MAN."

Snow shot Lightning an argumentative look as the lights in the room dimmed.

"By all that's right in the world, do you lot take this long to do everything?" Opie spat from his chair. Before anyone could give an answer, he stuck his head inside the smoking cylinder and took a loud inhale. "Ahhhh…" When he lifted his head back up, his look of annoyance had turned instead into a loose and dopey one.

"Oh, hell no," Lightning growled under her breath. She pulled Hope closer to her body and took a huge step forward in order to plant her free hand into Snow's back and give him a strong shove.

"Wha—Hey!" Snow objected as he stumbled forward, but it was too late.

"And we have a taker!" Opie cackled, using his hearing to know exactly where to reach his hand out in order to grab Snow's arm and reel him in. "My, you're a big one. They don't skimp on the meals in Cocoon suburbia, do they? Anyway, here. Take this." He thrust the cylinder into Snow's unassuming hands. "Now I want you to spit in it, then as hard as you can, blow into it."

"Wait. Actually spit in it, like—"

"Just spit, boy!"

"Pfttt!" Snow hocked up a large loogie and let it fly into the cylinder. He then took a deep inhale, and as hard as he could, puckered his lips and blew into the container.

Thick, cool smoke shot out of the open end of the cylinder and quickly spread throughout the rest of the room, completely covering the floor in an opaque mist. Near the center of the room, parts of the smoke began to rise to form columns before moving on to outline steps that led up to a huge, smoky throne.

"Whoa, that's the room," Snow breathed, tightly gripping the cylinder with both hands. "That's the room we're always in for the visions."

"Hey… I think I know where that is now," Hope spoke softly, gently wriggling out of Lightning's loosened grip and taking a step further into the smoke scene. "That's the primarch's palace. In Eden. We're studying it in my social studies class this week. It was hard to tell before, but I'm pretty sure that's where it is."

The smoke on the ground began to rise until it was around waist-level of the taller teens. As if standing up all at once from a crouching position, a multitude of small smoke-soldiers rose from the smoke and broke out running towards the throne in the middle of the room with their miniature guns at the ready. Lightning stared, her mouth slightly agape in amazement, at the small popping sounds that sounded and echoed off the walls as the tiny men fired their weapons.

"Hahhhh!" a rough cry broke out, and flashes of light flickered through some of the thick plumes and columns of smoke.

"Awww, heyyy," Snow cooed, bending over to get a closer look at the newest little smoke person to appear in the crowd. "Lightning, I think that's you."

Lightning arched an eyebrow and leaned forward to study the smoke person in question. The little thing was quick, and seemed to have the same long hairstyle as she did. Not too far away was a taller, and bulkier smoke person who was throwing punches in the air. No doubt that one was Snow. There was even a smaller figure that ran along the outskirts of the room, thrusting its arms out at random times, that she thought somewhat resembled Hope. The only two people who she couldn't find a feasible smoke counterpart for were…

"RAAAWWWRRRRRRRRR!"

Lightning felt a tingle run down her spine and her body involuntarily straightened on hearing the same roar that always haunted her dreams at night.

From the corner of the room, Fang's head shot up on hearing the roar to cautiously eye the events going on in the center of the room as well.

"Whoa, oh!" Snow's face turned frightful as a clawed hand reached out to grip the edge of the cylinder from its inside. Another clawed hand grabbed the edge of the cylinder from the opposite side, and with a forceful push, a much larger figure burst out from out of the container. "Eeeeeee!" Snow immediately dropped the cylinder and shook his hands nervously, taking a quick step backwards away from where the thing was probably rolling around on the floor in the smoke.

The figure seemed almost humanlike, but was definitely not human. It was at least three times the size of the soldiers below and had a huge, spiky mane (that creepily almost looked like it was composed of clawed hands) that ran from the top of its head to the middle of its shoulder blades and reached all the way down its back. As it ran, leapt, and swung its longs arms at an unbelievable speed across the room, a long, pronged tail whipped the air behind it.

"And that's the monster," Lightning said, staring at the newest addition to the smoke party. "That's the monster from our visions."

Fang just gaped wide-eyed at the creature. She had spoken to Lightning before about what the other girl had seen in her visions, but even her imagination could never have made her picture this. And in comparison to her own visions, she realized that she had never seen the monster, although she could hear its mighty roar; she'd go as far to say that sometimes she could even feel the roar deep within her being. But the more she watched the erratic smoke scene play out, the more unsettled she became. There was way too much familiarity in the movements of the beast. The way it jumped from pillar to pillar… the way it quickly glided across the room to stare its opponents in the eye before standing to beat its chest… those were actions that more and more matched some of scenes she had had in her visions.

The gentle grip of a soft hand sliding into her own was the only thing able to tear Fang's eyes away from all the smoke action that had almost everyone in the room still mesmerized. Fang's face scrunched as she now looked down into the knowing, pale green eyes of her best friend. She hadn't seen so much fear and sadness mixed in Van's eyes since their first night together at the orphanage in Oerba. She tried to give the girl's hand a comforting squeeze, but she knew there was no comfort at all to be found dealing with this situation.

The sounds of gunshots, shouting, and roars slowly started to die down as the smoke faded away. Lightning released a pent up breath that she didn't even realize she was holding and looked across the room for the first time since Snow had spit in the cylinder.

One of her eyebrows spontaneously arched.

Fang and Vanille stood isolated away from the rest of the group with their sides damn near plastered against each other and hands tightly clasped together. It shouldn't have bothered her. She had seen the two of them do much touchier things than this before. And although their actions were sometimes questionable, there was always such a nonchalant manner with which they usually did them that made them easy to shrug off and forget a moment later. But this… something was different about this. It seemed much more close. And intimate. Almost as if it were something that was not meant to be witnessed by anyone else. Nevertheless, Lightning still couldn't find it in herself to stop watching, no matter how much she wanted to ignore it.

"Man, that was heavy." Snow bent over to pick up the now empty cylinder that he had dropped on the floor earlier. "What in the hell was that thing? Do you think we were fighting it? It was hard to tell. None of the people things seemed to be aiming at anyone in particular. One of the soldiers looked like he was shooting at a wall for a good minute."

"That 'thing' you saw in the smoke was Ragnarok, the fated beast."

All heads turned back to the elder in the room, whose face had now turned serious in contrast to the goofy look of high euphoria he had been wearing when the smoke had first come to life.

"I thought that Ragnarok was just a bed time story," Vanille peeped quietly, finally pulling away from Fang to take a step closer to Opie's chair. "An old tale just to make children behave."

"Heehee, my dear clanswoman," Opie grimly laughed, "what tales are scarier than the truth? You do not know much about fal'Cie terror and rule, but the bedtime stories of Ragnarok weren't started to make sure you don't fight or steal. Oh, no… they were very much real warnings to children to stay away from the fal'Cie unless they wanted such a fate to befall them."

"W-what exactly is Ragnarok?" Hope asked nervously.

"My Cocoonian friend," Opie began, now leaning forward on his knees, "Ragnarok is the legendary beast whose destiny is to destroy Cocoon."

"What?" Lightning asked, bristling at the explanation. "Are you trying to say that there's some ancient monster running around trying to destroy our planet?"

"Precisely," Opie answered. "The legend states that it has always been the plan of the fal'Cie to choose a mighty Gran Pulsian warrior to become Ragnarok and strike down Cocoon. I guess that the fal'Cie may finally have found that warrior."

"But why now?" Hope asked, the unmistakable look of fear in his eyes as he spoke. "Why not during the war?"

Opie made a disgruntled face and shook his head. "The fal'Cie knew better, boy. The war was a time when many of the people of Gran Pulse were turned into l'Cie and sent off to do the fal'Cie's bidding. It separated families, and lovers, and friends. The people came to despise the fal'Cie even more than they despised Cocoon, making it unsafe for any fal'Cie to grant their l'Cie such power."

"So that's why so many of the fal'Cie on Gran Pulse suddenly disappeared," Lightning thought aloud, remembering an exerpt on Gran Pulsian fal'Cie she had see on the history channel as she began piecing the puzzle together in her mind. "They must've went into hiding, waiting for a day when the people of Gran Pulse would forget about them and see Cocoon as the bigger enemy."

"And you Cocoon lot played right into it," Opie grumped.

"It makes sense…" Lightning continued, disregarding Opie's jab at her people. "Maybe Rosch was on to something as well. Maybe some Gran Pulsian fighter did run into Anima, and got turned into Ragnarok. No, we definitely would've heard about some giant monster running around trying to destroy Cocoon."

"Maybe he just hasn't picked out someone to be Ragnarok yet," Hope offered. Lightning turned to look at him questioningly. "If our visions show us what's supposed to happen in the future, maybe Ragnarok still hasn't been chosen yet."

"Maybe, but none of that explains what we're supposed to be doing," Lightning said, crossing her arms and looking down to think. "We were marked by a Gran Pulse fal'Cie, too. Why would he need us? Unless we're supposed to help this thing…"

"Maybe we're looking at this all wrong," Snow finally said, attracting most of the attention his way. "If one fal'Cie can hide away up here, maybe there's more. What if Anima's not trying to destroy Cocoon, but trying to save it?"

Lightning gave Snow a skeptical look, but the boy still pushed on, "Just hear me out. Anima is pretty much stuck on Cocoon. Something that big and obvious has no way of sneaking off. Maybe he was hiding out, all comfy here and knew about some other fa'Cie plan and just wanted to save his new home? I just can't help but believe we were given these powers to save the world."

"Likely plan or not, if we don't stop Ragnarok, he's going to destroy Cocoon," Hope said somberly. "I'm not sure if it's our focus, or if helping him will turn us to crystal and save us while the rest of the world burns… I just know we can't let that happen. Not when so many lives are at stakes. Our parents, our friends, just innocent people… We've got to stop it."

Lightning felt sick to her stomach. There was a sense of pride swelling in her chest at how brave and honorable the young and timid Hope Estheim had become, but it also worried her that this whole ordeal had forced him to grow up way too early. The theft of his innocence was just another strike that the fal'Cie, and now Ragnarok, had against him. It was another thing, added on to Hope's previous stated reasoning, on why they both needed to be defeated. There was no question about it.

With that in mind, Lightning released a deep breath and looked over her fellow l'Cie's faces, not exactly being able to catch Vanille or Fang's gaze. "Then I guess that pretty much sums up one thing… We need to get to Eden and defeat Ragnarok."

Vanille took a deep swallow and looked back over her shoulder to Fang, whose face had taken on a ghastly expression.

Shit.

* * *

"I don't know. I have exams next week, so that may not be a good time."

"Dude, forget about exams! If we don't fight this thing off, they won't matter anyway. The more important thing is that I've got a party coming up! We can't leave before then! Gotta blow off some steam before we fight the dream, right?"

Lightning led the way out of the house as the other l'Cie followed. Hope and Snow continued to talk potential strategy concerning when they should begin their trip to Eden while Fang and Vanille remained eerily quiet.

Fang stopped at the open door and paused as Vanille stepped beside her to give her a worried look.

"Ahh, guys," Fang called in a less than sure voice, breaking eye contact with Vanille to look over the questioning expressions of her other friends. "Me and Van need to hang back awhile and ask Opie some questions about stuff going on at the rez. Mind waiting outside a bit?"

"No prob!" Snow immediately answered with a smile while Lightning watched Fang with a subtly disturbed expression on her face.

Fang nodded gratefully and waited for Vanille to step fully back into the house before closing the door behind them.

"So you are the two who have been fated to become Ragnarok," Opie stated in a gravely voice. His head turned to the direction of Vanille. "The young, sweet girl…" His head then rolled so that he was now resting his empty eyes on Fang. "…and the older, insolent one."

"Aye, can ya lay off a bit?" Fang snapped, taking a menacing step forward.

"Oooh, touchy, touchy," Opie sang, wagging a warning finger in Fang's direction. "That anger will be nothing but your downfall, young Yun. You should try your best to tame it."

"But she is good at taming it!" Vanille defended. "Well, usually…"

"I know," Opie calmly replied, not seeming too affected by any of the shocking truths that had been revealed in his home today. "She's been holding a lot of that anger, especially anger against Cocoon, deep inside her… and for a very long time too. That's why the fal'Cie chose her as the trigger."

"The trigger?" Fang asked.

"The trigger," Opie repeated. "All that anger inside of you, the monster feeds off of it. That control you may have had over it before, you now must compete with the beast for it. And if you let that anger get the best of you, if you give the beast enough fuel to take control… then that will be the trigger that jump starts you and your friend's transformation into Ragnarok."

Vanille's eyes grew big with worry and Fang just let out a sad, disbelieving breath. "So you're saying that if I get too much of a temper tantrum, then I'll turn both of us into that thing we saw?"

"I'm sure up to reasonable measure. I can feel the bond that you two share. It's a strong, lifelong one. The fal'Cie must've been felt it too; it probably helped in why he chose you. You two don't like being away from each other. You don't trust it… don't trust the world to not be cruel with someone you hold so dear, and I understand. The fal'Cie knew how close you are. It knew that you wouldn't leave each other, and that if one of you experienced pain, or anger, or fear, the other's emotions would spike as well, making you both vulnerable for the transformation. And you, missy, seem to be the biggest threat for pulling the pin."

Fang silently stared at the ground in contemplation. It felt as if a million thoughts were running through her mind. "How can I stop it?" she asked softly, her voice breaking a bit from the guilt and anguish that was starting to weigh down on her from their growing predicament.

"You can't," Opie replied solemnly. "The means may change, but there are only two ends. You can try to ignore your focus, but I know you won't." His head once again turned to face Vanille. "The consequences are too grave."

"But there has to be something—"

Two loud knocks on the door interrupted Fang's plea. "Fang, it's starting to get late," Lightning's voice sounded through the wood. "We should start heading back now before we get stuck travelling through the woods in the dark."

Fang sighed. "We'll be done in a minute!" she called back.

"Listen," Opie said in an authoritative voice, "I can tell what you're thinking. And I sense that you have questions. I already did ya one favor tonight by throwing the gum in that Vision Smoke to skew the actions in the vision, and I don't mind doing ya another. When you leave, I will make you a batch of herbs that should help curb that anger a bit. You can come back later tonight, alone, to pick them up and ask your questions then."

"Alone?" Vanille echoed, quickly turning her head to look back and forth from Fang to Opie.

Fang just tried to give Vanille a reassuring smile and placed a hand on her back to lead her to the door. As she grasped the knob, she looked back over her shoulder at Opie, sitting expectantly in his chair. "I'll consider it."

* * *

The sky had grown dark by the time Fang had been able to return to the woods. Vanille was not pleased at all with the idea of Fang traveling alone to meet up with Opie again. She was even more perturbed that Fang wouldn't tell her what Opie had been talking about when he said he knew what she had been thinking. She simply shrugged it off saying that the old man must've been having more hallucinations. Nevertheless, Vanille had made it a point to stick to her older best friend like glue for the rest of the day, meaning that Fang had to use all types of sly tricks and maneuvers to finally get away from the girl and steal off towards Dia Opie's.

She had a feeling that the woods would be a bit creepier at night, but she had no idea that they would be this ominous. Dark tree branches that looked like claws reached out and grabbed for her with every step she took. The wind whistled an eerie tune, and every single animal outside felt the need to screech as if it were dying a horrible death.

Fang had never felt so relieved when she finally stumbled upon the horribly built hidden cabin in the trees.

She brushed the leaves, and nerves, off of her shoulder before taking more confident steps toward the home. As she neared, she shot a curious glance to the window.

Completely dark.

No light spilled from under the door or out of the presumed million cracks that had to be covering such a ramshackle of a house. Fang didn't know much about the needs of blind people, but she at least thought it would be courtesy to leave the light on if he had been expecting her.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the door and knocked against it with the toe of her shoe.

No answer.

She knocked again. "Dia Opie?"

No sounds returned her call but the rustling of leaves in the trees and the raucous chirping of the night bugs.

"Oi!" She exasperatedly gave the door a much harder kick than she had in her former two attempts, and instead of being met with resistance, the door flung open.

"Uh… Dia Opie?" Fang stuck her head inside the home. It was pitch black inside, but as the door began to swing further and further back, more moonlight was able to shine in and illuminate the place.

"Dia—oh…" Fang's breath caught in her chest.

Something was wrong.

The once cluttered room, stuffed with trays, bowls, vases, and trinkets… was completely empty. There were no tables scattered across the floor. No toys hanging off the shelves. No cot pushed against the back wall. And most importantly, no tall chair with a peculiar old man sitting in it.

No anything.

Fang took an alarmed step backwards and out of the house, quickly looking around to see if she was being watched.

A twig snapped in the distance.

Fang ducked into a crouch and adopted a defensive position. Her eyes darted through the trees, trying to make out any figures in the bushes as she slowly, quietly, started backing away into the thicker foliage.

BANG!

Fang quickly spun around with her hands raised in a fighting position, nearly jumping out of her skin she was so startled. However, it was just the door that she had failed to close. A nighttime breeze had pushed it back to crash against the inside wall of the house.

Fang let out a shaky breath and turned to hurriedly scurry through the thicket. Screw caution. She wasn't going to wait for any surprises.

As she swiftly weaved, ducked, and crawled her way through the forest back to the living area, one thought repeated over and over in her mind.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.


	19. Chapter 19

"Awww, you look cute," Serah complimented her sister's choice of clothing as she hopped down the stairs.

"You look nice too," Lightning replied, looking up to critique her sister's outfit. "But you forgot the rest of your skirt upstairs."

"Huh?" Serah twirled around and peeked behind her shoulder to try and get a glimpse of her own butt. "You think it's too short?"

Lightning gave Serah a look that answered the question much better than words could.

"Hmph. Your shorts aren't any better," Serah defended. "Looking to grab someone's attention tonight?"

"Please…" Light mumbled. "I'm only going because I owe Gadot a favor."

"Well once he sees you in those, he'll be trying to pay you some favors instead. Come to think of it, I think I'm even getting hot for you."

"Serah…" Lightning shook her head. It was bad enough thinking that Gadot might start leering at her, but she wouldn't be able to deal if Serah started making her 'Farroncest' comments throughout the night too.

She wasn't sure if she totally blamed her sister for her teasing though. Lightning liked to wear her shorts and skirts just as much as the next girl, but tonight she had picked a pair that she knew to be a bit higher and more accentuating than the rest. As much as she wanted to credit her choice to those shorts being the only 'party worthy' bottoms she had, every time she thought about them, one image popped into her mind…

Fang.

Ever since Dia Opie had mysteriously disappeared, Fang's mind had been somewhere else… somewhere far away from Bodhum. Everyone was on edge about why the old man would go missing right after learning about their dark secret, but Vanille and Fang seemed to be affected the most, Fang especially. She started paying less and less attention to what everyone else said during their group meetings, often causing them to repeat themselves multiple times. She'd also often drift off into deep thought, blankly staring into nothing. It was like she was there, but at the same time not there, and it bothered Lightning to no end. So no, she wouldn't admit so much as saying that there was a hidden motive for her clothing choice. She wasn't even sure if Fang would be at the party after the way she'd been behaving all week. But still in all, Light wouldn't be totally honest if she said that she wasn't hoping to grab someone's attention.

HONK! HONK!

Lightning turned her head to the door as Serah bounded back up the stairs to grab her set of keys. She released a stressed breath before she started her journey out to the waiting car.

* * *

Music blasted from the home as Lightning, Serah, and the cheerleaders who had given them a ride approached the house. The house was huge, pretty much a mansion, and located not too far away from Candy Court. It was on its own road that led further into a huge plot of land where the house sat isolated from the other residences in the area. How Snow and Gadot were even able to score this place to have their party at was beyond Lightning, and she wasn't going to ask for fear that she would one day be bothered to testify against them in court.

"Wow, it's packed already," Serah marveled as they walked across the lawn. Groups of teens were scattered across the grass, conversing, smoking, and drinking from plastic red cups. There was a heavy group in particular congregating outside the front door of the house, which was constantly opening and closing from kids entering and leaving. "Oooh, and there's Snow!"

"STEELGUARD!"

Lightning whipped her head around in just enough time to see some boy swing a wooden chair at one of her fellow l'Cie. The chair shattered when it collided into Snow's bare chest, sending wooden shards everywhere and eliciting a loud, "WHHOOOOO!" from the adolescent crowd on the lawn.

"Snow!" Serah gaped, running over to the center of commotion.

"Snow…" Lightning scowled, marching to follow her sister.

"Serah!" The large, blonde party host absolutely beamed on seeing the young girl jogging over to him. He opened his arms and made a move to meet her half way until his vision landed on the grouchier looking young woman behind her. "…and Lightning." The total loss of enthusiasm was transparently obvious in his tone.

"Huh?" Serah stopped a foot shy of Snow to turn and look curiously at her sister, who kept marching even after she had a hand gripped around Snow's huge bicep and had dragged him further across the lawn away from the crowd. Sly whistles and catcalls followed them until they reached a far enough distance for Lightning to feel comfortable.

"Snow, what the hell?!"

"What?" Snow returned, utterly clueless as to what her deal was. He peeked over her head to glance at Serah from across the grass and give her a dainty wave with his fingers, but his hand was immediately smacked down by the elder Farron sister who was still glaring at him.

"What?! More like what are you doing? Besides trying to blow our cover!"

"Huh?" Snow once again paused from making eyes at Serah to look down at Lightning inquisitively. "Ohh! Are you talking about the chair trick?"

Lightning was still glowering.

"Lightning, I do stuff like that all the time at parties! Post-Vestige or not! It's my thing!"

Lightning continued to give him the stank eye. The air was filled with the strong odor of beer mixed with grass and mud, and she was starting to wonder how much of that scent was coming off of Snow.

"Okay, okay. So maybe they've never been that impressive, but look! Nobody looks suspicious of anything! Sheesh." Snow lifted a hand to rub the back of his head. "You've gotta calm down a little, neighbor. We've had a rough week and it's not like we ever get to freely play with our powers. This is a party. Enjoy it."

"Enjoy it?" Lightning's nostrils flared. "I'd enjoy it if—"

"Hey, guys!" Lightning was abruptly interrupted by Serah darting over to jump in between herself and Snow. "Mind if I cut in?" The younger girl was looking dead at Snow and totally ignoring her sister.

"Yes, actually. We were in the middle of—"

"Great! Thanks, Light!"

And just that quickly, Serah had whisked Snow away to the other side of the lawn. Lightning growled after the two. As she watched them disappear into the house, she noticed the faces of the rest of her peers. None of them did seem to care about how Snow was performing such feats of strength earlier. They had all pretty much forgotten about it and had continued with whatever they were doing.

For a moment, Lightning found herself wondering if for once, Snow had a point. It was a party. And although they didn't have anything great to celebrate, it might be a long time before she'd get such a big chance to wind down again. Maybe she should just enjoy it.

With that idea in mind, Lightning headed to the front door of the house.

* * *

The inside of the home was surprisingly much more crowded than she would've guessed. The hall was strewn with bodies, mostly of couples leaning on each other and making out against the walls, and the living room was packed with dancing teens. On a platform raised above the dance floor was a DJ table, and from behind it, Maqui made faces and bobbed his head as he mixed different records. Lightning grinned lightly at how 'in the zone' her ex-associate looked.

"Heyyyy, beautiful." Lightning stiffened and her whole back warmed as a sweaty stranger leaned against her from behind and whispered those slurred words in her ear. "Wanna dance?"

Light tried to turn her head and meet the voice that was addressing her, but was halted by a tight hand gripping her waist and another hand pushing down against her back to bend her over. Lightning froze in shock at the crude actions, but was yanked back to reality when she felt a crotch roughly bang into her ass and begin grinding.

As if that pelvic thrust had contained some form of enraged kinetic energy, Lightning felt her anger ignite to the point where she swore she could feel steam bursting out of her ears.

"Hey!" She straightened herself up and quickly rounded on the perpetrator, a boy whose face looked familiar from the hallways of school. Not really giving a damn who he was, she forcefully grabbed a handful of the boys jeans, not even being careful to avoid skin, and gave a hard jerk upward.

"Eeeep!" The boy yelped and tried to push Lightning away, but unfortunately he was drunk while she was sober and super-powered. She easily batted both his arms down, still tightly holding his jeans upward near the crotch area, before aggressively pushing him so that his back slammed against the nearest wall.

"You listen, and you listen good," she snarled, leaning close to his ear and trying to ignore the stench of cigarettes and mixed alcohol on his breath. "Thrust that thing at me one more time, and I will kick it so hard that everyone will remember tonight as the party that had the public castration. Then, as the years pass, I will continuously send you pictures of children. You don't want that, do you?"

"N-n-no," the boy stuttered.

"Good." Lightning releasing the boy's jeans and took a step backwards. She couldn't help but feel somewhat accomplished as she watched him scurry off down the opposite direction of the hallway.

"It's Lightning, isn't it?" A lean, blue-haired boy holding a tray with shot-sized cups on it materialized next to her.

Lightning quirked an eyebrow at the kid and nodded. "Yuj, right?"

"Yep. You're a friend of Lebreau's, huh?"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded guardedly. After her previous two encounters at the party, it didn't seem as if she were on a roll socially.

"Hah. Then word from the wise, don't let her know you're not on the dance floor, or she'll put you to work." Yuj raised the tray he was holding to drive home his point. "But after seeing your run-in with Steve, I figured you could use one of these. Or two."

Lightning leaned forward to inspect the small cups that Yuj was toting around. They were all gelatinous and either blue or red in color, pretty much the type of things that Lightning would never even consider ingesting on a regular day… but she was starting to get in bed with the idea that maybe she should force herself to wind down. So what the hell.

She grabbed a blue one from the tray and quickly slurped it down, cringing when the not so familiar sting of alcohol hit her tongue. "Agh. What is this?"

"Flan shots," Yuj replied, still smiling. "Sorry if they're not that strong. They're the jump starters before the jungle juice rolls out. Here. Take another."

Lightning reached forward to pick a red one from the plate this time. The alcohol still tasted harsh to her untrained mouth, but this one did go down a bit smoother than the last. She took a long gulp and placed the two empty cups back on the tray before nodding her head in Yuj's direction. "So Yuj, why are you walking around handing out drinks instead of dancing or something?"

Yuj shrugged modestly. "I have a track meet tomorrow, so I'm trying to save my energy."

"You're on the track team?" Lightning reached for yet another small cup. Yuj had implied that the shots were weak but nevertheless her throat and chest were starting to grow warm as the previous two shots travelled through her. "I'm actually going to your track meet tomorrow. I've got a friend on the field team."

Yuj laughed which caused Lightning to ruffle her brows. "Then you must be friends with Fang," he chuckled, turning his head to look inside the room with the dance floor.

Now Lightning's face began to heat. She couldn't tell whether it was from embarrassment or anger. She didn't want it to be explicitly known that it was Fang she was talking about, but she wouldn't have expected that type of reaction if she had anyway.

Yuj looked back to Light and shook his head after seeing the upset look on her face. "It's nothing against Fang," he clarified, still laughing. "It's just that Fang IS the field team. Well, the only one worth coming to one our meets for. Although she isn't taking the whole 'save your energy' idea as seriously as I am."

Yuj turned to look inside the living room again, and this time Lightning followed his line of vision. Sure enough, near the front of the dance floor she was able to spot Fang and Vanille. Fang's head was rhythmically swinging back and forth and her hands were raised high to clap on beat with her movements. Across her face was a brilliant smile of pure enjoyment, something that she hadn't seen on Fang for the past couple of days and something that she truly missed. The girl was radiant. In front of Fang, Vanille bounced around, alternating throwing her fists in the air along with the beat, looking jolly as well. So all of the other l'Cie were able to find it in themselves to have a good time…

"Lightning!"

Lightning cringed.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." Alyssa Zaidelle maneuvered through the crowded hall, her friend Stacy close behind her, to stand next to Lightning and Yuj. "Did you know that there's an intense game of Truth or Dare going on two rooms over? You should totally come play with us!"

"I'll pass," Lightning answered callously, snatching one last shot from Yuj's tray to squeeze into her mouth. She only winced a smidgen as she swallowed the gelatin whole. "I'm looking for Lebreau. Maybe later." She glanced across the dance floor for only a brief second more before turning to wander through more of the house.

Alyssa stared after Lightning with a look of contempt on her face. She then snapped her head towards Yuj, but the boy knew better than to stick around a woman who was wearing that kind of expression, so he turned in the opposite way to continue handing out shots.

"Lyss," Stacy called, leaning forward so that she was closer to Alyssa's ear. "It's been months now. Are you still trying to suck up to Lightning Farron?"

Alyssa shook her head and turned to look in the direction that Light had walked off in. "No. Playing nice went out the door the moment that bitch tried to embarrass me in front of my own friends," she tensely replied. "Tonight, there's a new game plan. Tonight, we make Lightning Farron feel like a fool."

* * *

Fang rubbed the back of her sweaty neck as she meandered down the hallway. She was taking a break from the dance floor while Vanille chatted up some boy from her Algebra class who 'liked the way she moved'. Fang shook her head at the amateur line that Vanille so easily fell for… although she guessed if a hot enough girl told her the same, she wouldn't think twice before entertaining it.

Speaking of…

Fang froze in mid-step down the hall right after passing the opening to the kitchen and immediately took two long strides backwards to stare through the open doorframe. Leaning over the counter, back arched and butt pushed out as she stretched forward to look into one of the top cabinets, was her favorite pink-head.

Fang arched an impressed eyebrow as her eyes rested on the round backside that was pointed up in her direction before allowing her eyes to travel down the long, slender legs that were more exposed than usual due to Lightning's choice of clothing. There was one thing she couldn't deny about Lightning Farron, and that was that the girl definitely had a body. With an impish smirk on her face, Fang allowed her feet to aimlessly wander into the kitchen, following the instructions that her eyes and hormones were shouting at her. "Hey, you," she said congenially when she was only a couple paces away from Light, forcing her eyes up and away from the other girl's lower body.

Lightning's head turned to peer over her shoulder as the rest of her body remained stretched across the counter. Her cheeks looked pinker than usual and her expression was surprised, as if Fang were the last person she thought she would see in that kitchen. "Hey, yourself," she finally replied. "How are you? I wasn't expecting you to be here after… well… you've just seemed out of it this week."

Fang tried to fight staring at Light with a puzzled expression. It wasn't often that she would just come out of the blue and talk about l'Cie stuff in public, especially in a place this crowded. Maybe her change in mood after Opie's disappearance had been that palpable, just like Vanille had said. Fang let out a thoughtful breath and hiked her shoulders. "Yeah, I know." She leaned her back against the counter adjacent to the one Lightning was stretched over. "I wasn't really planning on it. Van convinced me to come though. Said I needed to relax. But it's been fun; I'm glad I showed up. Got a chance to go out on the floor and show my mooooves." Fang balled her fists and made little bouncing motions with her shoulders.

The corner of Light's lips twitched upward as she watched Fang begin to sway left to right as she continued to bounce her shoulders along in a silly fashion. "I'm glad you showed up too."

Fang stopped her dancing and softly smiled at Lightning's statement, feeling that the words meant more than being glad that she physically showed up to the party.

"I missed you."

Fang's smile faltered. As endearing as that last statement was, it was another uncharacteristic thing for Lightning to say without having it coaxed out of her. Fang narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to better examine the pinkette's face. "Have you been drinking?"

Lightning quickly turned her head to look away from Fang and back into the cabinet. "You do remember we're not supposed to be talking in public like this, right? Alyssa's here and she's on the prowl."

"Hm," Fang let her eyes linger on the back of Lightning's head for a moment before folding her arms and looking across the room. She was definitely sure that her fellow l'Cie had partaken and was even surer that some of her usual defenses had disappeared as a result. Maybe this could be a little fun… "Firstly, Alyssa can go suck a Chocobo tit. Secondly, this is a party. People are supposed to mingle. Thirdly, with my reputation, and your shorts, it'd be weirder if I wasn't over here talking ya up. Can ya flutter your eyes and giggle a little to make it look more authentic?"

"I haven't drank that much."

"Hehe. What are ya doing over here anyway? Housecleaning?"

"Looking for a cup." Lightning looked around the cabinet one last time before settling back down on her feet with a conceding sigh. "But I guess that's not going to happen."

"Here."

Seemingly out of nowhere, a red plastic cup was thrust into Light's face. Lightning eyed the cup skeptically. "You don't need it?"

"Not really. I've only been drinking water. Got that track meet tomorrow, remember?"

"Uh huh," Lightning murmured, crinkling her nose at the cup. "I'm not sure if I trust it. With your reputation, I don't know where your mouth's been."

"Aye." Fang grinned. "The alcohol should kill it. Hopefully. And who knows. Mess around and ya might learn firsthand about my reputation."

"Again, I haven't drank that much." Light smirked as she plucked the empty cup from Fang's fingers.

"Yet," Fang joked, waggling her eyebrows.

"FARRON!" The cabinets almost shook from the intensity and volume of Gadot's excited shout as he entered the kitchen. "There's the guest of honor!"

"Why—"

"C'mon! Come here!" Gadot grasped Lightning's hand and pulled her away from the counter before she could finish. "There's the most epic game of Never Have I Ever going on! You NEED to see this!"

Lightning frantically cast a long look at Fang before being nearly carried out of the room by the overzealous Gadot. Fang just smiled after the two. There was something comical about how contrasting their facial expressions had been when they left the room.

"Heyyy, Fang. Enjoying yourself, I see."

Fang released a tired breath and turned to face Alyssa Zaidelle, who somehow appeared directly in front of her as she continued to lean back against the counter. "More like trying to," Fang replied curtly. She stood straight and moved left in an attempt to walk around the class president but was instead blocked when Alyssa mirrored her movement.

"You know, there's a great game of Truth or Dare going on in the game room. You should join! It would be SO MUCH fun!"

"Sorry, but no."

"Why not?" Alyssa shot, planting her hands on her hips. "What have you got better to do?"

Fang looked down at Alyssa, sizing the girl up before staring over her shoulder at the rest of the house that signaled her freedom. "Anything," Fang matter-of-factly answered, before grabbing Alyssa by the waist, picking her up, and moving her out of the way so that she could quickly slip past her.

"Ugh!" Alyssa gasped in an offended tone as she watched the Pulsian girl retreat to the hallway. It was a minor setback, but the night was still young. She'd have her way yet.

* * *

"Never have I ever been able to keep my arms and legs safely inside the vehicle at all times when having sex on the Eidolon Unleashed rollercoaster in Nautilus."

Three fingers went down among the circle of people in the group, and consequently three cups lifted to the air as their holders took a big gulp.

Lightning leaned forward on her knees, still holding all five of her fingers up. Her cup, however, was damn near empty. Even though she wasn't supposed to be drinking, according to the game's rules, she still freely partook in the action due to her boredom. Maybe if all of the questions weren't centered around her peers' crazy sex-ploits, she'd have more of a chance to be involved.

A warm shoulder pressed against her arm, and she turned her head to see Gadot leaning over her. "Farron, I can't tell whether you're really good or really bad at this game. But either way, looks like you're winning. Do you need a refill?"

Lightning just nodded. She found it much easier than talking. Whenever she opened her mouth to speak, she found herself stumbling over her words.

"Here." Gadot tipped his cup into hers to pour her half of his drink. Lightning couldn't tell whether it was chivalry or laziness.

"Thanks," she bluntly responded as another sex question was asked.

Lightning continued to lean forward and blew a strand of hair that had fallen into her face upwards. Not finding anything better to concentrate on, she rolled her head sideways to get a glimpse of what may be happening in the hallway. What she saw immediately made her blood boil.

"Serah?!"

Sure enough, dead in the center of the hall, Lightning's younger sister was pressed up against Snow. She stood on her tippy toes, with the blonde brute leaning down, in order for their lips to meet.

Light rose to her feet but the ground wobbled beneath her, almost causing her to fall over. A pair of strong arms immediately gripped her around her waist to keep her steady. "Whoa, there," Gadot's voice tried to calm her down. "You got it?"

"Yeah," Lightning roughly dismissed, reaching a hand back to swipe Gadot's hands from off of her. When she looked back to the hallway, both Serah and Snow were gone. "Which way'd they go?"

She took another unsteady step forward but was halted by Gadot grabbing her upper arm. "Farron, you don't need to worry about it. I've talked to Snow, and he respects your sister. Plus, she definitely wears the pants in that relationship. Nothing'll happen that she doesn't give the okay to."

"That's what bothers me…" Lightning growled, still intently staring at the Snow-vacant hallway. She couldn't wait until their next training session… But Gadot was right. It'd be useless chasing after them now. Snow definitely knew more about the house's layout than she did.

So instead of taking chase, she raised her cup to her lips and chugged the rest of her drink. Her chest immediately burned afterwards, but it was a good distraction from the horrors she had just witnessed in the hall a moment ago.

"I need another refill," she stated, pushing her cup into Gadot's chest.

Gadot stared at the cup in surprise before taking it. "Uh, sure thing. Let me go handle that for you. You… you just sit down and take a moment. Enjoy the game."

Lightning grunted in response as Gadot left the room to go to the den, where Lebreau was busily working behind a nice sized, built-in bar. "Breausky!" Gadot called, pushing his way to the front of the crowd and waving Light's empty cup in the air. "Need a refill!"

"Already?" Lebreau asked with uplifted eyebrows. "With all the drinks you've been getting, I'd expect you to be doing the forbidden scarf dance on one of the tables by now."

Gadot gave a hearty chuckle as Lebreau took the cup from him. "It's not just me. I've been filling up for two. Farron's really been putting them away up there."

Lebreau halted before opening the spigot to the jungle juice cooler. "Farron?" She turned around. "Which Farron?"

"Older Farron. You know Snow doesn't trust anyone with the younger one."

"Is she drunk?"

"She can barely walk straight."

"So you're getting her more alcohol?!"

"Hey," Gadot said defensively, "You know how rough she can be! Who am I to deny the lady what she wants?"

Lebreau rolled her eyes as she twiddled the cup in her hand. "I've got an idea. Want to start getting some of our boos funds back?"

Gadot leaned across the bar. "I'm listening."

"Tell Lightning that Lebreau's cutting her off."

"What? She—"

"Just listen! Tell her that I'm cutting her off unless she comes down here and does me a favor. Okay?"

"Okay," Gadot nodded. "What's the favor?"

"You'll see. You'll probably enjoy it yourself."

"Good thing I trust you," Gadot grinned, pushing back from the bar counter. "I'll get her down here for you."

"Thanks, boo!" Lebreau called with a smile as Gadot began to push his way back through the crowd. Now next things next… She reached under the bar to grab a handful of paper towels to dry the surface off with. She then shooed a few people who were leaning across the countertop away before hoisting herself up to stand on it.

"May I have your attention, please!" she yelled across the room. "In ten minutes, we're going to start doing body shots!"

A roar of cheers erupted from the crowd.

"50 gil for guys, and free for girls!"

The cheers were immediately replaced with boos.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm your asses down! These won't be just any regular body shots! These will be my SPECIALTY body shots! And just to prove how special they are, we're going to start with a live demonstration! So listen! Whoever finds and brings Oerba Yun Fang to me in the next few minutes, gets to do a shot off of me! For free!"

There were a bunch of appreciative whoops and grunts from some of the guys in the room, followed by shuffling as some rushed to the stairs.

With a sly grin, Lebreau climbed down from on top the bar and dusted off her hands. Her plan was now set in motion.

* * *

"But wait…" Fang lifted a questioning finger as she and Lebreau conversed behind the bar. "Why me again?"

"Why anybody else?" Lebreau returned. She grabbed a small, peach colored fruit from the mini fridge under the bar before pulling out a pocketknife to cut it into thick wedges. "Fang, it's obvious you've got the hots for Lightning. And with you being two of the hottest girls in our class, this'll definitely help bring in sales. So just look at this as me scratching your back while you scratch mine."

"Okay…" Fang said, looking down for a moment to continue to think the request through. "But what about Light? I don't really see her agreeing to something like this. And it's not like anything would come of it anyway. Every time I make a move on her, she looks at it like it's either a mistake or a joke."

"Good."

Fang gave Lebreau a puzzled look that urged the girl to continue.

"You say Lightning doesn't see you that way romantically, then good. This doesn't have to go anywhere. You get enough crap from people on a daily basis, you deserve a chance to finally indulge in something you want. So if you get that chance and don't have to worry about the mess of feelings, blown chances, or the like, then I say go ahead."

Fang stared at Lebreau thoughtfully, obviously rolling the idea over in her mind. And from the growing spark in her eye, Lebreau was positive that she had been given all the coercion she needed.

"Lebreau?"

Perfect.

Lebreau turned around to see Gadot ushering Lightning through the crowd. The brunette had to laugh to herself. Light's hair was a bit more disheveled than usual and her face was definitely more flushed. But despite whatever level of inebriation she was at, she still had that hard, 'classic Lightning' expression on her face.

"You said something about a favor?" Lightning's eyes flicked curiously to scan over Fang before returning back to Breau.

"That I did," Lebreau said with a smile. She leaned over the bar to get closer to Light before continuing. "You wouldn't believe the shit ton we had to spend on alcohol for this party, and since we didn't charge an entry fee, we thought we'd find another way to get some of that money back."

Lightning just eyed her suspiciously. She couldn't see what their little group's financial problems had to do with her not being able to get a refill.

"So we're going to start charging for body shots."

Light still didn't comprehend.

"But they're a bit on the pricey side. So we need something that'll convince them the price is worth it, especially the guys since they're the ones paying. So I want to give them an example."

Lightning's eyes widened and her head once again swung to look in Fang's direction. She totally understood where this was going now.

"Lebreau," she warned in a low voice, also leaning over the bar so that no one could hear them. "No."

"Fine." Lebreau simply answered. "Then you're cut off."

Lightning just stared at her friend for a moment as she thought about her options. The alcohol was making her time here much more passable. She wasn't privy to the idea of leaving the party early, especially since she knew that Serah would try to stay with Snow. Plus, she was only friends with a couple of people here, most of whom were busy or she was not supposed to be seen talking in public with. The alcohol was a must.

"Okay," she relented. "But does it have to be Fang?"

"No." Lebreau shook her head. "The other ideal choice would be Gadot."

Lightning's eyes widened to incredulous proportions.

"It is his party," Lebreau explained, shrugging her shoulders. "Choice is yours."

Lightning glared at Lebreau for a brief moment before breaking eye contact to look at the ceiling. She knew her friend well enough to understand that this was not just a tactical moneymaking strategy. This was basically her way of sticking her nose into Lightning's business, even when Lightning had explicitly told her not to. "Fine. What do I do?"

Lebreau smiled sweetly at Light and opened her hands out to the bar. "Barely anything at all. Just lay back and relax."

Lightning gave Lebreau one last scornful look before trying to climb onto the bar with wobbly arms. When she was finally laid out across the bar, Lebreau picked at the bottom of her shirt to roll it up so that it bunched up right beneath her breasts.

"Lebreau… I think I love you," Gadot breathed, staring at the expanse of finely sculpted pale skin that had previously been hidden under Lightning's shirt.

"So this shot is what I'd like to call the Naughty Nectar!" Lebreau announced. She pulled out one of the fruit wedges that she had cut earlier and ran it in a wavy line along the side of Lightning's stomach. Lightning flinched at the coolness of it against her skin and had to lift her head to peek down her body when she felt something rough and grainy rubbing against her side along the same line that the fruit had gone. "Sugar," Lebreau informed, once she had finished. "And now for the main event… the alcohol!"

Hoots and hollers erupted from the crowd as Lebreau pulled out two bottles from behind her back.

"Okay, Light. For this to work, I need you suck in your stomach a bit right here… just like that. Now, stay absolutely still. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Lightning's stomach cooled as Lebreau poured a little pool of mixed liquids over her bellybutton area.

"And last but not least," Lebreau lifted up the fruit wedge that she had placed against Light's skin for the crowd to see, "Open up, Light."

"Huh—" but as Light was questioning the moves of Lebreau, the girl had taken her chance to stuff the wedge into the pinkette's mouth.

"No talking," she commanded, pointing a warning finger at her friend's nose. "And now, let the body shots begin!" The crowd yelled and screamed in delight. "Fang, she's all yours."

Fang grinned and gave Lebreau an appreciative nod as she stepped next to Lightning.

Alyssa and Stacy quietly watched the action on the bar from the steps leading down into the den. "Soooo… guess this throws a wrench in your plans, huh Lyss?"

"No, not at all." Alyssa rubbed her chin and grinned as she watched the action below. "This just makes it all the better. Have you seen Tammy around?"

Back at the bar, Fang took a moment to let her eyes slowly travel the length of Lightning's body until they locked onto Lightning's own anxious stare. She let a faint, yet highly devious smile play on her lips before ducking her head and moving further down Light's body.

Lightning decided to stare intently at the ceiling. She wanted to brace herself for whatever was to come. She had seen these things done on TV hundreds of times, and they never took more than a few seconds. This would be a piece of caaa-ohhhhh… A violent shiver ran up her spine on feeling Fang's warm breath tickling her bare stomach. Etro, anticipation was a bitch. The waiting was probably going to be worse than Fang actually taking the shot.

Lightning had never had such a wrong thought in her entire life.

The first contact had the effect of an electric shock being flew through her system. Lightning's eyes flew wide open as a hot, wet sensation spread across her lower abdomen, below her bellybutton and right above the top edge of her shorts… nowhere near the alcohol or sugar.

Lightning's head shot up from against the bar to look down her body. Fang had jumped onto the bar and was crouched over her, dragging her lips across Lightning's skin to finally meet in the long, slow kiss that she had spread across the girl's lower stomach. Her gaze never lifted to take in how Light might be reacting to her treatments, but instead remained focused on the skin she was currently cherishing.

Lightning spit the fruit out of her mouth and let it tumble down her chin to land on her chest. "What are you doing?!" Her question was forced out as a mixture between a frenetic hiss and a pant.

"Light!" Lebreau scolded. "You dropped the fruit!"

"It's alright." Fang's eyes finally lifted to meet Light's in an undeterred and calm stare while she still kept her predatory stance over Light's lower body. "Is there a problem, Lightbolt?"

Lightning's expression looked incredulous. "You're not… taking… the shot," she ground out in three exasperated breaths.

Fang's face remained as calm as could be. "Yea, I am."

"You're not doing it right."

"Hmmmm. My shot. My way."

"What?!"

"She's right," Lebreau agreed, earning her an angry look from Lightning as well. "Only person with set rules right here is you, because if you don't sit still and cooperate, I'm cutting you off." She narrowed her eyes at Lightning to emphasize her point and used two fingers to push the girl's head back down against the bar. "Now shut up and relax for once!"

Lightning clenched her jaw furiously, glaring at Lebreau through fierce eyes as the back of her head met the bar again. She had half the mind to say screw the alcohol and just jump off the bar right no—oooohh! Lightning's head lifted up again to check down her body to see the new actions that had gotten her feeling wired again.

Fang was now placing light, gentle pecks along her side, starting from below her bellybutton and leading up to where the line of sugar started. Just as before, she was giving all of her attention to Lightning's stomach, never looking up as she placed her lips against Lightning's skin, lifting them up just enough to barely graze her side before softly planting them down again at their new destination.

Lightning knew that everyone in the room had to be laughing or cheering or whistling at them, but she couldn't hear a thing besides a mute, muffled background noise. She knew the crowd was there, but her senses just refused to care. They were only focused on one person in the room. Nevertheless, Lightning tried to control her breathing. She was starting to feel self-conscious that her chest might be heaving so visibly that everyone would notice how nervous Fang was making her, how inadvertently excited her body was getting.

That's when the kisses stopped. Lightning looked down again.

Emerald green eyes locked onto hers, and an uncontrollable surge of heat suddenly exploded in her lower stomach, spreading a warm tingling feeling through her legs.

Never breaking eye contact, Fang lowered her head back down to drag her tongue along the long line of sugar up Lightning's side. Lightning had to fight to suppress the involuntary jerks her body made as Fang's course muscle rubbed against the grainy crystals. The Gran Pulsian pulled up once she had almost reached the end of the line just so she could dip back down again to take one final, deliberate lap at the last patch of sugar.

Her eyes were now fixated on Light's stomach again as she zeroed in on the small pool of liquid at her bellybutton. She leaned back on her haunches and planted her hands on the bar counter, one on each side of Lightning.

She dipped in again.

Lightning took a sharp inhale at the warmth that engulfed her stomach as Fang's mouth attached to it and sucked. That tongue of hers went to work again, causing Lightning's breath to hitch as it made circles around the small dip in her belly. This made no sense. This couldn't be for show anymore, or could it? The crowd couldn't see the way her tongue was currently caressing and stroking her belly. So why do it, if not to just try and draw a reaction from her? Lightning grit her teeth and prayed to Etro that a moan wouldn't accidentally fly out. She couldn't help but be thankful, albeit still a but upset, when with a soft slurping sound, Fang's head lifted from her stomach.

The dark-haired girl then crawled up to finish off the last part of the Naughty Nectar, the fruit.

Fang bent her head to take the piece of fruit between her teeth and drag it across Light's skin until it was resting in the center of her neck. Light tried to train her eyes to the ceiling and focus solely on steady breathing, although at this point she couldn't see the use. Fang was so close now. There was no way she couldn't pick up what Light was feeling from the rest of her body. No way the girl couldn't hear how loud her heart was beating, or at least feel how violently it was banging against the inside of her chest. She had to know the effect she was having on her. She especially had to feel the quickened pulse in her neck as her lips ran across it to take the fruit to her mouth in one go.

Lightning's senses had reached such an overload that she didn't notice Fang lean further up against her body until she felt her breath rustling a few of the hairs in front of her ear as she leaned over to whisper, "Guess ya know where my mouth's been now, huh? OOOMMPH!"

The next thing that Fang would feel would be a prominent ache in her stomach as she went tumbling over the side of the bar and crashing onto the sticky floor below. The excited sounds from the rest of the crowd once again became loudly evident as she lay, panting on the floor and trying the catch her breath from the surprise knee to the gut that she had received. The noise still didn't stop her from hearing the low, "Jackass," that Lightning muttered before reaching over the bar to grab a nearly finished bottle of alcohol and sliding off the counter to march to the door.

"Wow."

Fang looked up to see Lebreau looming over her with her hands on her hips and her eyes fixed on stairs that Lightning was now ascending.

"Strangely, I think that went better than I expected."

* * *

Fang found Lightning leaning against the doorway of the living room, staring out at the crowd of gyrating bodies on the dance floor.

"Found ya," she said, standing a few inches behind her to lean forward on the inside wall and peer over her shoulder.

Lightning didn't turn to greet her.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened downstairs. It was juvenile, and messed up, and I shouldn'ta taken advantage of ya like that."

Lightning continued to stare at the dance floor for another moment before finally turning her head to face Fang. Her cheeks were definitely redder at the tops and her face shimmered with sweat. Her eyes were a bit pinker in color, and her movements, although perfectly fine compared to a regular person, seemed a bit less controlled than usual for Lightning's standards. "You humiliated me."

"I know," Fang sighed, studying the pinkette closely. She wondered how much more she had had to drink since carrying that bottle upstairs. Even as she stood in front of her now, it looked as if her body was starting to sway a bit. "Want me to make it up to ya?"

Lightning snorted and turned back around. "As if you could."

"But I can," Fang pushed in a lighthearted tone. "I humiliated you, so how 'bout I repay ya back by humiliating myself? Sound good?"

Lightning's head turned around to eye Fang again. "How would you do that?"

The corner of Fang's lip lifted up into a sheepish grin. "Dance with me."

"No." Lightning had turned around again.

"You'll enjoooyyyy ittttt," Fang sang.

"I don't dance."

"I can't dance either."

"I didn't say I can't. I said I don't."

"Even better!"

Lightning turned to glare at Fang again. In response, Fang gave her best innocent smile. "Listen," she began, "When me and Van first integrated public school, we didn't know too much about Cocoon culture and stuff. So when the first school dance came about, we didn't wanna miss out on a chance to mingle with the local folk. But we also had no idea how Cocoonians danced, and it's not like we were gonna walk up and ask anybody to teach us. So we tried the next best thing. The next day, we went to the library and went on the net to search for the most popular online dance videos."

Lightning lifted an eyebrow at Fang, slowly becoming curious as to where this story was going.

"Now this was around the time when those three boy bands were real popular. So the most popular dance videos, of course, were from them."

Lightning's glare softened a bit. She remembered those boy bands fairly well. Serah had been in love with all of them. She also remembered how ridiculous their choreographed dance moves had been, each one trying to outshine the choreography of the group who had released a video before them. "So you went to the dance and did those type of dances?" she asked.

"Sure did," Fang confirmed with a reminiscent smile. "Got made fun of the entire night for it, too. I think that kinda fueled the whole social stigma thing for us at school more than anything else."

"And you'd want to do it again?"

"All's fair in humiliation and war, right?" Fang shrugged. "And it's not like I'm getting any more popular. So whattaya say? Dance with me?"

Lightning's brow creased in thought. "I don't kn—"

"That's the spirit!"

Fang didn't wait for the negative response that she knew was coming. She just grabbed Lightning's wrist and pulled her into the music filled living room, making sure to slow down when she could feel Light stumbling behind her. Once they had found a small circle of free space in the mass of dancing people, Fang released Light's wrist, took a few steps away, and turned to face her. She stood with her feet shoulder width apart and her hands clasped behind her back, an antsy grin pasted on her face that widened into a full on smile when she looked at Light. "One, two, three, and BOUNCE!" she mouthed before sliding to the left and spinning then sliding to the right before breaking into her dance routine.

Lightning couldn't tell if it was the liquor or if the scene was just that funny, but she couldn't even hold back the smile that had broken through in watching Fang slide, step, and twirl around in that small space as she perfectly copied the intricate dances from some of those music videos. She hadn't even been thirty seconds into her dance before a bigger circle of onlookers had stopped their own dancing to turn and watch, some of them even going as far to cheer her on. About another thirty seconds in, Maqui looked up from his perch behind the uplifted DJ booth to see what the commotion on the floor was about. Five seconds later, the room blasted with an actual song from one of the boy bands. Fang's smile somehow widened even more. She stole quick glances at Lightning, who stood still in her spot on the dance floor, grinning and softly shaking her head at her comrade, as the girl continued to dance and now mouth the words to the song. All around them, their mostly drunken peers started to sing along with the song at the top of their lungs and turn to their friends to do their own emulations of the dances.

"Light!" Fang called, when she had noticed most of the attention had been taken off of her as everyone else broke into their own dancing factions. Lightning looked to her curiously. "Come here!" Fang reached out a hand.

Light stared at that hand as if it had leprosy.

"Aww, c'mon! It'll be fun!" Fang encouraged, once again ignoring the obvious look of protest and grabbing Lightning's wrist to pull her in closer.

She must have misjudged the amount of balance Lightning had had before, because as she held both of Lightning's hands and moved their bodies, encouraging the other girl to try and copy her dance moves, it was becoming more and more clear just how little control Light currently had over her legs. She moved in discord to every motion Fang made and at times gripped Fang's hands tighter because it felt as if her legs would totally betray her an cause her to slip.

When the current song moved into the slow, breakdown portion near the end of one of its verses, Fang gently pulled the dizzy Lightning in against her chest for a momentary slow dance as she dipped her head down closer to the girl's ear. "Are you feeling alright? How much did ya actually drink tonight?"

"I'm not drunk," was the slurred response that Lightning gave, nuzzling her cheek against the exposed part of Fang's warm chest as they continued to slowly sway to the music.

Fang's eyebrow lifted dubiously. Light's speech had gotten a lot worse than it had been just minutes earlier in the doorway. She didn't know if it had something to do with the dancing or if some of the liquor was now starting to set in and hit her in a drunken wave, but either way, she had a feeling that it would only get worse from here. "Do ya wanna go to the kitchen and get some water?"

"I don't need water."

"Okay. Well, we can just stay here for awhile then… if ya want?"

Lightning didn't immediately answer, but closed her eyes and continued to slowly move in tune with Fang. She didn't mind staying here at all. It was comforting, standing there with her body against Fang's and rhythmically rocking to the beat. She didn't feel so dizzy. Or lost. Or off-balance. She just felt warm. And fuzzy. And right. She smiled to herself and opened her eyes.

And then her personal smile faltered.

Eyes were staring at her. She couldn't tell how many, or from which directions they were coming from, but she could feel them nonetheless. Staring at her. Judging her. Forming their own personal opinions about her and looking to each other to gossip about her.

"No."

"Huh?" Fang asked, pulling her head back a bit to look down at Lightning curiously.

"No, no. People are staring."

"What?" Fang looked around to scan the crowd. "Who?"

"They're staring. I-I can't do this. I need to go to another room."

"Wait, are ya sure?"

"I need to go," Lightning repeated with an air of finality as she roughly pushed herself away from Fang and stumbled through the crowd to the hallway, leaving a confused and crestfallen Fang to stare after her alone from the dance floor.

* * *

"…and with Homecoming just around the corner, I don't understand how you don't have a dress yet," Alyssa continued to speak to Lightning, who just blankly stared out across the room at the circle of teens sitting in the floor a number of feet away from them. They looked as if they were playing a game. They would take turns saying things that she couldn't hear from where she was sitting, then they would burst into laughter.

"Lightning?"

"Huh?" Light turned her head back to face Alyssa.

"I said, is there anyone you're thinking of asking out?"

"Oh." Etro, this conversation was trying. If not for the fact that she was avoiding all the people she considered to be her friends at this party, she wouldn't even be sitting here talking to Alyssa. But such is life… "No."

"But there are so many people dying to go with you! You should talk to…"

From one of the open side entrances, Stacy led a still downtrodden looking Fang into the room. "What did ya need me for again?" Fang asked, watching Stacy as she turned to look at the group of people sitting in a circle on the floor.

"We're playing Truth or Dare. Your name came up and we need you in order to get to the next turn."

Fang sighed. "How do I keep getting drafted for these things?"

"I dunno. Just lucky, I guess," Stacy said with a smile as she approached the circle with Fang a few steps behind.

"So what is it my name came up…" Fang began to ask, but her question slowly trailed off as she noticed Tammy rise from the circle, her eyes dead set on Fang with a predatory grin on her face. "…for?"

Back across the room, Lightning rubbed her eyes as Alyssa continued to talk to her about homecoming. "…because I'm wondering if wearing a light pink dress to match your hair would be overkill or just plain adorab—oh. Oh, look at that. That's just disgusting."

"Hm?" Lightning murmured, pulling her hands away from her face to give Alyssa a questioning look.

"If the two of them are going to be like that, they should just get a room."

Light turned her head to see what Alyssa was talking about. What she saw caused her stomach to drop. All the warmth that had been flowing through her body rushed to her face and the air in the room thickened to the point where breathing became laboured.

On the far side of the room, Tammy was pressed up against Fang. Her hands were tangled in Fang's hair as Fang's arms wrapped tightly around her waist, holding them close together, and their mouths were practically glued together in a deep kiss that looked as if Tammy wouldn't be satisfied until she came up with Fang's tonsils. The two finally pulled away after a few more seconds, both taking slow, deep breaths as the circle of teens laughed around them. Tammy leaned in to whisper something into Fang's ear, and Fang numbly nodded her head in response, a glazed look coming over her eyes. Tammy then smiled and grabbed Fang's hand to giddily drag her out of the room.

Lightning didn't know she was still staring at the doorway that the two had run through. She could feel her brows furrowing into a deep scowl and she could hear the heavy breaths that she was taking. Her face still burned and her stomach was still turned in disgust.

"Well!" Alyssa glanced from Lightning to the door with a pleased smile on her face. "That was something else. That Fang, I tell ya… She pulls this at every party we go to."

Lightning ground her teeth and jumped off of the seat she had been sitting on, taking a moment to gain some balance before Alyssa asked, "Lightning, are you going somewhere?"

"I wanna be alone," she stated.

"Oh. Okay. Well there's a room upstairs that I know is empty. It's the one with the picture of the dog hanging on the door. If you look above the doorframe, there should be a key to unlock it. You can rest in there for awhile if you want."

Lightning vigorously nodded, her scowl still prominent on her face, before staggering to the doorway and pushing her way through the crowd.

Alyssa smiled after her as Stacy slowly slid beside her to take the seat that Lightning had just vacated. "Everything going like you expected?"

"Exactly," Alyssa answered happily. "Although, there is one last thing that I'd like to ice the cake with. You saw what Lightning did to Steve earlier when he tried to dance with her, right?"

Stacy nodded.

"Are there any really drunk basketball players roaming around? Starters, preferably."

"Jason's pretty off his ass right about now."

"Good. I think he'd be dying to know that Lightning Farron is upstairs waiting for him in the room with the dog picture on the door."

* * *

Tammy leaned into Fang as the two left the house with their arms interlocked. Fang had been able to find Vanille in the party and secure a trusted ride home from Yuj for her. From there, she and Tammy had begun walking to Fang's car. Apparently Tammy's parents were away again this weekend, and Tammy was not in the mood to be alone in the house tonight.

"I was starting to think you weren't interested in me after the last few times we talked," Tammy admitted in a high-pitched, cutesy voice, cuddling closer into Fang's arm.

"Really? What would make ya think that?" Fang asked, playing along. After that kiss, her mind was set on one thing right now, and she didn't mind playing any games that Tammy was going to set in front of her to get it.

"You're always blowing me off."

"What? I'm not always blowin—"

BOOM!

Fang and Tammy quickly turned around just in time to see one of the second story windows of the house shatter, and a huge plume of fire blow out of it before recoiling and disappearing into the night air.

Fang gaped at the spectacle, dumbfounded for a moment before quickly turning back to Tammy. "Ya know, tonight was fun but I just remembered that there's some other thing I've gotta do, so I've gotta pass on the thing we were gonna do. Cool? Okay! Talk to ya later!"

"What?! Fang!" Tammy called, but it was too late. Fang had already broken out into a sprint across the lawn and back into the house.

She didn't stop running until she had forced her way to the front of the crowd that had packed into the stairs to stare into one of the upstairs rooms.

"SHE'S CRAZY!" a tall, square jawed boy shouted, crouching against the far wall with a hysterical look in his eyes and a shaky finger pointed to the opposite side of the room.

"Touch me again, and I'll show you crazy!" a more familiar voice shouted. Fang turned her head to see a red-faced Lightning wrestling with Gadot (who despite his superior size, looked to be struggling to hold her back) as she tried to pull herself in the boy's direction.

"What's going on?" Fang asked in a loud voice, stepping into the room.

"And why are you here?" Lightning spat, now turning her enraged eyes to Fang.

"Hey, hey, hey!" the boy on the opposite side of the room called to Fang. "Don't piss her off! She can shoot fire out her hands!"

"What?" Fang asked incredulously, giving the boy the best disbelieving look she could pull off. "Calm down, man. I think you're drunk."

"What? No! Bitch is crazy and she shoots crazy fireballs out—"

"Hey," Fang said soothingly, walking up to the boy and placing a calming hand on his elbow. It took only a moment for it to have the effect that she wanted, and she saw the boy's face twist into one of discomfort. "You're talkin' crazy. Are you alright? Ya look like you're gonna be sick." And right on cue, the boy leaned over and vomited on the floor.

"Hey! Not on the hardwood!" Gadot groaned, loosening his grip around Lightning as he did so. The crowd in the doorway began to clear away as well, voicing their disgust as they left.

"Light, you don't look too good either," Fang said, now walking across the room with a displeased expression. "You actually look a bit dazed."

"Don't you dare…" Lightning growled.

But she did. Her movements were much sharper and more controlled than Light's were at the moment, and she was easily able to reach out and take Light's hand, letting her magic course through her and causing Lightning's knees to go weak and the environment to dull as she slowly felt her strength drain from her before she crumbled to the floor.

Between Fang's spell and the drunken anger-filled stupor that she had already been in, it was becoming harder and harder for Lightning to concentrate on what was going on around her. She could see some tall, athletic looking guys walk in and drag their sick friend out. She didn't know when they had appeared, but Snow and Serah had indeed entered the room as well. Serah bent down to touch Lightning's head and ask her a few questions about how she was feeling.

"We should go home. Only problem is, I have to find Dina to give us a ride back," Serah stated, standing up.

"Don't worry about it. I'll drive you," Snow said with a dismayed look on his face.

"No way. I can take her home," Gadot offered. "You two don't look like you're ready to leave yet, and Snow, you're much better at monitoring the house than I am. You stay. I'll go."

"I don't think I'm too keen on that idea," Fang interjected, eyeing Gadot suspiciously. Gadot glared back at her challengingly while Serah looked to Fang in surprise. She had heard that Vanille's friend had shown up to help defuse the situation, but she couldn't understand why she was interested enough to stay and involve herself in their going-home affairs.

"You don't need to be," Gadot replied sternly. "Farron, what do you think? Mind if I take you home?"

"Oh she's not drunk enough—"

"Gadot's good," Lightning said in a slightly garbled voice. "Gadot, did you know I couldn't stand you when we were kids? Or yesterday! Yester-d-day I thought you were such a douche! But you… you're good. I… we can go home."

Fang's face dropped as Gadot smiled at Lightning victoriously. "Well, whatta you know? Looks like somebody was mistaken."

Fang turned back to give Gadot a severe look before taking a step closer to him. "Maybe I should clarify. I meant to say that I'M not drunk enough to let ya take her home."

Gadot bristled at the new challenge and also took a step forward.

"Excuse me?" Serah asked, still confused by what was going on. "Why—"

"Fang should take Lightning home!" Snow cut in, jumping in between Fang and Gadot and pushing them apart. Gadot was a big dude, but Snow was well aware of what Fang was capable of. One l'Cie had already lost control tonight; there was no need for the number to rise to two. He turned around to face an even more baffled Serah and shrugged. "You can trust Fang. She'll take care of her."

Serah gave Snow an almost pleading look before turning to Fang. The Pulsian's facial expressions had smoothed out from the fierce look she had been giving Gadot earlier and now looked more comforting than ever. "I know where ya live. I can drop her off safely. And Gadot…" Her face now looked apologetic, but Gadot wasn't having any of it.

"Nuh uh. Not cool, Fang. Not cool," he replied, shaking his head and briskly exiting the room.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Lightning grumbled, an arm thrown over Fang's shoulder as the taller girl helped her walk along the dark road that led up to Candy Court.

"Your house," Fang patiently replied.

"Why aren't you driving?"

"Heh, in the condition you're in? Don't want ya to accidentally redecorate the inside of my car. Your house isn't much further from here, though. You'll be alright."

"Hmph…" Lightning groused. "It's your fault."

"Not all of it," Fang replied lightly, a hint of a smile on her face. "What was with you tonight, anyway? Drinking that much… Thinking of becoming a sailor when ya grow up?"

Lightning mumbled something incoherent and then let out a soft burp, which made Fang's shoulder's bounce up and down in a chuckle. "Don't laugh at me," Lightning scolded, still finding it in herself to be cross at everything. "And don't tell me not to drink. You're not my mom. My mom's dead."

Fang's shoulders stopped bouncing and the air grew a bit more serious. "Sorry to hear that… My mom's dead too."

"Is she really?" Lightning asked skeptically, sharply turning her head to look at Fang. "I thought your parents were alive."

Fang just released a lighthearted breath from her nostrils, not seeming upset at the morbid path that the conversation had taken. "Nope. Both me and Vanille's parents are gone. That's why we're so close. We met at an orphanage in Oerba not to long after we lost 'em. She became my only family. We've lived together ever since."

"Oh."

They walked silently in the dark for a few more steps.

"You shouldn't kiss Tammy."

It was now Fang's turn to lift and eyebrow and turn her head to study Lightning. "You're not my mom," she said jokingly.

Lightning ignored the comment and pushed on. "You shouldn't be kissing any of those girls you kiss at parties. It's not right."

"Gods, help me…" Fang breathed, not sure of where this conversation was heading now. "How about we talk about something else, hm?"

"No," Lightning said determinately. "Do you know how bad it looks when you're off touching and kissing and, and doing other stuff with girls all the time?"

"Wow, didn't know ya were so committed to guardin' my decency," Fang teased in a sarcastic voice.

"Well, obviously you're not," Lightning retorted. "Tammy, and Vanille, and—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Fang slowed her steps to a stop to look at Lightning critically. "Why are ya throwing Vanille into this?"

"You don't sleep with Vanille?"

"No, I don't sleep with Vanille! Well, I sleep-sleep with Vanille but I don't SLEEP with Vanille. Vanille's as straight as a line."

"Lines can be curvy."

"Then she's as straight as a straight line," Fang corrected, securing her arm around Light's waist before starting to walk again. "Damn. Don't know what's more disturbing. That ya thought I was doin' the nasty with Vanille, or that ya thought I'd be cheatin' on her."

"Well you two need to define your relationship. Or wear tags around your necks stating it. No one knows what in the hell you guys are," Light mumbled. She decided she had had enough of being coddled and pulled her arm from off Fang's shoulder so that she could stumble on a few paces ahead of her.

"Hehehe, yea. Everyone seems to have their own interpretation," Fang agreed with a thoughtful smile, looking past Lightning to peep her house, which was starting to grow taller in the distance. "Didn't think it would matter much to you, anyway."

"It does," Lightning replied without turning around to look back at Fang. "I don't like thinking of other girls kissing you."

"Well, that's a—huh?" Fang froze and stared dumbfoundedly at Lightning's back as it continued to move unsteadily down the sidewalk. "Wha—hold up a second." Fang lunged forward to grab Light's hand and gently tug it backwards, causing Lightning to spin back into her. "What do you mean? That ya don't like 'other' girls kissin' me?"

Lightning's eyes looked tired and somewhat glazed over. She was definitely feeling the effects of the night's activities now, but Fang remained undeterred, keeping a firm grip around Lightning and searching her face for an answer.

"It makes me mad," Lightning replied, tiredly leaning forward to rest her forehead against Fang's chest.

"Why?" Fang asked hurriedly, feeling her heart starting to beat more furiously. "Why does it make ya mad?" She tried to lean away so that Lightning would stand straight again and look at her, but Light's head continued to droop and roll. "Light, please…"

Lightning slowly lifted her head from Fang's chest to look the girl straight in the eyes, but something seemed different. It wasn't the same, drunken glaze that had been there before. Her eyes just seemed… empty.

"Ragnarok…"

Fang's blood ran cold.

"Come day of wrath, o Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn... That fallen souls might bear our plea, to hasten the Divine's return... O piteous wanderer, Ragnarok. Make of this day a brave epoch. Deliver the Divine, Ragnarok."

"L-Light?"

Lightning's head dropped back down against Fang's now heaving chest. The pinkette emitted a low groan, before slowly lifting her head back up to look at Fang through squinted eyes. "Fang… I'm tired."

Fang just stared at her with a mix of confusion and bewilderment. "Uh, yeah. We're… we're almost home. Here." Fang bent down to scoop Lightning up in her arms, an action that was met without protest. She carried Lightning the rest of the way to her house.

All the windows were dark and everything seemed quiet from outside. Colonel Farron's anti-grav Jeep was parked in the driveway, signaling that the man was home, but Fang couldn't be sure if he was up waiting for his daughters or not. Either way, she wouldn't just leave Lightning at the doorstep. The girl looked as if she were in no state to even make that short trip into her house and up her stairs alone. So with a little coaxing, she was able to get Lightning to hand over her house key and sneak indoors.

The house was pitch black inside, save for the bits of moonlight that spilled in through some of the open windows. Fang made a stop in the kitchen to grab two bottles of water from the fridge before silently carrying Lightning upstairs to her room, thanking the gods that Colonel Farron had indeed gone to sleep not knowing what his offspring were up to.

When she was safe behind Lightning's locked bedroom door, she asked the Cocoonian to start taking sips from the water bottle she had given her. As expected, Lightning groggily refused, so Fang then challenged the girl to a water-drinking contest. At first, Lightning paid her no mind, but after watching Fang take a few uncontested gulps, Lightning quickly snatched her own bottle from off the nightstand to quickly guzzle down its contents before Fang could finish hers.

"I win," Light muttered, before dropping unceremoniously onto her mattress and curling into a tight ball. "You… you lose…" And with a long yawn, the girl quickly slipped off into unconsciousness.

Fang sighed and flopped down on the bed next to her, turning her head upwards to look at Lightning's face. It had been a long night for everyone, but she was sure that recent events would keep her awake for a few more hours still.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, y'all! I think it's kind of funny that earlier today I was talking to someone who said, "It takes much more skill to write a short story than it does to write a drawn out novel." and hours later I came home and uploaded this extremely long chapter and thought to myself, "Well, shit..."

So if you made it to the end and are reading this... I appreciate you. And sorry for the update lag. Now that my finals are done, I'll try to squeeze some more writing in here and there so I can get back to the at least once a week schedule. Thanks again for reading!


	20. Chapter 20

"Mmmm… Uggghhhh." Lightning awoke with a staggered groan.

She slowly opened her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. Her throat was dry and the stale, disgusting taste of burped up alcohol filled her mouth. She tried to lift herself up from the mattress, but her head throbbed in protest at the movement. So instead, she dropped back down to bury her face in her pillow.

Never. Again.

She slowly turned her head to spy two empty water bottles lying flat on her nightstand with a full one standing up right behind them. So maybe Drunk Lightning did have some sense…

With a yawn, she turned her head to look at the opposite side of her bed. It was empty, but all of the covers were wrinkled and disheveled.

Two loud knocks on her door made her head ache even more.

"Claire?" her dad's voice boomed through. Why was everything so loud?

"Yeeessss," she groaned in reply.

"Get up and get dressed. We've got company coming over."

"Yes, Dad," Lightning responded, rubbing her temples and finally finding the power within herself to sit up straight. The room spun, as well did her stomach, but she decided that the hardest part was over.

As she reached to pick the full water bottle up off of her nightstand, something caught her eye. The wind was lightly blowing through the window, causing her curtains to flutter backwards into the room. That was odd. She never left her window open at night.

"Light!"

Lightning jumped and grabbed her head as the bathroom door flung open. "Holy hell, Serah, could you be any louder?"

"Sorry," the youngest Farron apologized, walking further into the room to join her sister on the bed. "But I come bearing gifts of aspirin and Cactuarade. Thought it'd make you feel better. You were pretty far gone last night."

"Feels like I got into a head butting competition with a train," Lightning admitted, gratefully taking the aspirin and sports drink from her sister.

"From what I heard, you almost got into a fight with Jason Stallone. If Gadot hadn't shown up, you might've injured him," Serah chuckled.

"He would've deserved it." Lightning tossed the aspirin in her mouth before taking a few gulps of water.

"Well, if you ended up hurting him before the homecoming game, you'd probably become the most despised person in the school. Even lower on the totem pole than… ahem," Serah cleared her throat and stared down at her lap as she thought of her next question. "Light, how well do you know Oerba Dia Fang?"

"Oerba Yun Fang?"

"Oh. Yeah. She was very adamant about bringing you home last night, and she already knew where we lived. I've never seen you two talk before, and with you training to be in GC and from what Vanille says about her, I wouldn't even think the two of you would get along. Is this some type of juvie-bonding thing that happened when you all got caught at the Vestige?"

"We sit next to each other in history, Serah," Lightning replied. "We see each other all the time. And it's not everyone's business what I'm training for."

"Sorry. It just felt like you two were closer than that, especially since Snow said we were all invited to her track meet today."

Shit. Her track meet was today, wasn't it? Lightning let out a deep breath. She barely felt like getting out of bed, so she definitely didn't feel like sitting out in the hot, bright sun as a multitude of people screamed and shouted around her.

"…and after the two of you left, Gadot was pretty upset. Something about knowing Fang would pull something like that after the body shot you two did?"

As if Lightning's stomach could feel worse, she felt it twist a bit tighter as memories from the night before flooded back to her. Lying on the bar as Fang licked her stomach… swaying together on the dance floor… sitting on the sidelines watching Tammy tongue her down… and being supported by her as they walked home. Her last coherent memory, before everything faded into a gray haze, was her telling Fang how much she disliked the thought of Tammy or Vanille putting their lips on her…

Oh, Etro.

Lightning's eyes widened and an accidental moan of shame left her lips. She placed the water bottle down and fell backwards onto the bed, wanting the mattress to just swallow her alive and spit her out into some alternate universe where she hadn't made a total ass of herself.

"Light, are you alright?"

"Nooo," Lightning mumbled back, grabbing hold of a pillow. What were the odds that Fang had witnessed some freak disaster, like a meteor crashing, that would have distracted her enough to forget everything that Lightning had said to her on that walk home? There was no way that she could face Fang today. Absolutely none. "Serah, hand me my phone, please?"

"Okay… sure." Serah hesitantly grabbed Lightning's phone from the nightstand and handed it to her, still not entirely sure what to make of the scene that was playing out before her eyes.

Not paying much attention to her sister, Lightning scrolled down to Fang's number.

**"Hey. Not feeling well. Can't go to meet today"**

Not more than a minute passed before the phone beeped to signal a new incoming message. Just as expected, it was from Fang.

**"really? just pulled up outside your house. can I come up to say hey before we ride serah over?"**

Fuck.

* * *

Fang squinted in the sunlight as she and Vanille exited her car. Lightning had just messaged her saying that she wasn't feeling well, but since they were already here she figured she could still give Serah the ride instead of passing the duty off to Snow. Truthfully, she just wanted an excuse to see Lightning. Her stomach had sunk when she initially read Lightning's text and she feared the worst. Last night, in her drunken state, Light had called her Ragnarok and then went on to speak of her fated focus… the destruction of Cocoon. If she had woken this morning and remembered that, well… Fang didn't even want to think of the full repercussions if she remembered. She just hoped she didn't.

A few feet behind her, the sound of another car door slamming caught her attention. She turned her head to see a stocky, mid-sized young man with blue eyes, scraggly light brown hair, and an overconfident walk step onto the sidewalk.

"Hmm." Fang shrugged, not thinking too much of it as she and Vanille also started walking from behind their car to get the sidewalk.

As they walked, all three young adults met and turned to go up the path to Lightning's house. The common action caused all of them to stop and stare at each other curiously.

"The Farron household?" the young man asked, pointing a thumb towards Lightning's house.

"Yeah. You, too?" Fang asked, as Vanille nodded behind her.

"Yep," the guy said, his face breaking off into a lazy smile. "Well, since we're going to the same place, might as well introduce myself. Name's Rygdea. Nice to meet ya!"

He reached his hand out to give both Fang and Vanille a firm and hearty handshake. Fang smiled. "Oerba Yun Fang. And this is my best friend, Oerba Dia Vanille."

"Hi!" Vanille chirped from behind with a little wave.

"Nice to meet ya as well."

"Well, I'll be…" Rygdea placed his fists against his hips as his smile wrinkles deepened. "I figured from the looks of you two, but I wasn't completely sure. You're Gran Pulsian, ain't you?"

Fang's smile widened and she turned to Vanille, who wore an impressed look on her face. It wasn't every day that they met a Cocoonian who said 'Gran Pulsian' without being corrected at least five times beforehand. "Why, yes, we are," Fang finally replied with lit eyes.

"Hot damn, that's exciting!" Rydgea whooped, slapping a hand against the side of his leg. "I didn't think Colonel Farron was pro-Gran Pulse."

"Ya didn't?" Fang asked in astonishment. "You'd be surprised. Colonel Farron loves me!"

"Hah, guess you learn something new everyday!" Rygdea beamed as the three started walking the path to the house's front door.

"So Rygdea, what brings you to the Farron household this early in the day?" Fang asked.

"The Colonel wants me to meet his oldest daughter. Says she's a bit on the anti-social side and could use a boost in the companionship department."

"Really? Why, I'm here to share companionship with the older curmudgeony daughter, too! Twinsies!"

"Fang..."

"I think he wants me to ask her out to the PSICOM Cadet's Ball. Is she any type of good-looking?"

"You're a PSICOM cadet?" Fang pouted. "And just when I was starting to like you… But believe you me, don't let the stories fool ya. She's a fox. A bit of a rabid one in some cases, but a fox nonetheless."

"Nice," Rygdea said with a smile, stepping up to the front door to push in the doorbell. "Fang, mind if I ask you something personal?"

Fang lifted an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Gorgonopsid burgers or behemoth steaks?"

* * *

"Claire! Come downstairs! You have company!" Colonel Farron called as he marched to the front door. Twisting the lock and turning the cold knob firmly in his hand, he gave it good yank, expecting to see his bright, new protégé standing straight and honorably at the door. He didn't expect to instead see the traitorous young bastard leaning over, hand holding his stomach in laughter as the current bane of his existence raucously laughed on the step beside him.

"And that's why I'd take either of 'em over hedgefrog ANY DAY!" Fang finished whatever story she had been telling that currently had Rygdea in stitches. "Oh! Hey, Mr. Farron! Good to see ya again!"

Farron didn't answer her but just stared at her through hard, tempered eyes.

"Colonel!" Rygdea choked as he tried to calm himself. He stood straight and saluted the superior officer before reaching out to shake his hand. "Colonel, I didn't know your family was on the Gran Pulsian Equality forefront. I especially didn't know you were friends with such good-hearted Gran Pulsians."

"We aren't," Farron dryly stated with his eyes still fixed on Fang. "But what do I owe this please to, Yun Fang? And Dia?"

"We're here to pick Serah up to go to the school track meet," Vanille answered with an innocent smile. "Cheerleaders are needed and she didn't have a ride."

"I see. Well, you can wait out here until she's ready."

"Actually, sir, if it's not too much trouble," Rygdea cut in modestly, "I was hoping to ask Fang and Vanille some questions about the climate on the reservation. One of my higher ups requested I get some Gran Pulsian insight for one of my reports, and this would be a great opportunity for it."

Farron was now giving Rygdea a disgruntled look, but consented nonetheless. There was no need for the neighbors to wonder why two Pulsians were lounging on his lawn anyway. "Come in."

Fang grinned smugly at the pink-haired man as she crossed the threshold into the house and led the way to the living room sofa to converse with Rygdea.

* * *

"Hey, Light?" Serah tapped on the inside of the bathroom door before stepping into her older sister's room. "Are you sure you're not coming to the meet with us?"

"I'm positive."

"Because I just got a text from Vanille, and she says there's some PSICOM guy downstairs that Dad wants to set you up with."

Lightning paused midway through zipping up her jeans and her head flew up to look at Serah. "What?"

"Says he's supposed to be asking you out to some type of ball." Serah giggled a bit before continuing with her next statement, "And he asked if you were hot."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lightning grumbled.

"You can always try to use the meet as an escape route."

She could. It just mattered which situation she'd rather be in, and right now talking to some stranger that her father wanted her to date was actually winning. "Let's just get downstairs and see what all this is about."

"Yay." Serah smiled as she followed Lightning out of the bedroom.

* * *

She'd only been talking with the guy for about five minutes before she wanted out. He was nice, she'd give him that. He was also handsome in a bit of a rugged way. But everything just felt forced, especially with her father in the corner, quietly nodding his head along with the conversation. Each word that Rygdea said to her sounded like it had been read off a cue card that Farron had given him to study beforehand. Thankfully, Serah immediately sensed her discomfort and found reasons to stall the rest of them from leaving. It was even more of a comfort that Fang was able to act as the perfect conversation buffer. She seemed to get along quite well with Rygdea, and since she knew Lightning pretty well too, she was easily able to lighten the conversation by asking them certain questions and adding her own side comments in here and there. If not for the embarrassment that Lightning felt every time they made eye contact, she probably would've straight up told Fang that they all needed to leave for the track meet now.

Instead, Lightning took a deep breath and stood. "I need to grab something out the kitchen. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for a reaction, she briskly strode into the kitchen and placed her hands against the surface of the island. She was already feeling like crap, so maybe there was a way that she could make her father and Rygdea see that, just enough to make them decide that it was best to leave her alone to get some rest.

"Light?"

She lifted her head to meet the concerned face of Fang, standing in the kitchen doorway. She felt like a deer in headlights.

"Didn't mean to startle ya. We've gotta get going in a few, so I just wanted to check on ya and make sure you're feeling alright. Ya had a bit of a wild night last night."

"Oh." Lightning tried to settle herself down. "I've felt better. Just wish my dad had chosen a different day to become my pimp."

Fang lightly chuckled and stepped further into the kitchen. "I dunno. I kinda like Rygdea. He's a good guy. A bit of a bogan, but who isn't nowadays? And if ya want, one touch, and I can give him a big enough virus to have him KO'd for like a week."

Lightning softly smiled at the offer and shook her head. "I considered it, but no thanks. Dad would probably want me to be his nurse."

"I understand." Fang slowly turned to head back to the door, hesitated, and then swiftly spun back around. "Last night, you said some things," she blurted. The expression on her face looked cautious and insecure as she eyed Lightning down. "When we were walking here. Do ya… do ya remember what you said?"

Lightning's body went rigid. This was the exact moment she had been dreading. Fang's face looked so desperate for an answer and she couldn't help but still feel nothing but embarrassment over what she had said, so she took the easy way out. "No."

"Ya don't?"

"Um, no." Lightning raised a hand to rub at her forehead. "It's all bits and pieces after the whole trying to blow up a basketball player thing. I really did go overboard with the drinks. What I said… was it something noteworthy?"

"Um, well..." Fang took a deep exhale and let her shoulders relax. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't lose some hours of sleep over it."

Lightning's head tilted as she looked to Fang with a mystified stare. A tinge of regret over her little lie was already beginning to creep into her conscience.

"But it's nothing ya need to worry about! Just some drunken banter. I do hope ya feel better though," Fang was saying as she turned to the door. "And if you need anything—"

"Wait." Light rushed around the island to catch up with her. "I'm coming with you. My dad's real big on not backing out of commitments and I'm sure Rygdea feels just as awkward as I do in there, so they won't protest too much. Just give me a minute."

Fang just nodded as Lightning slipped past her to tell her father of her departure plans.

* * *

Lightning, Serah, Vanille, Snow, and Hope all sat on the bleachers a few rows above where the rest of their school's track team had set up shop. They had just finished cheering Fang on as she finished doing some of her jumps.

"I just think it's interesting that all of you became so close after everything that happened at the Vestige," Serah said, looking from Hope to Snow to Vanille and Lightning curiously. "I thought Light would do more to forget everything had ever happened instead of hanging out with the people it happened with. And the whole time, I never even knew."

Lightning shot Serah a peeved look over her shoulder. She could tell the girl was prying.

"In detainment, we found out we all had something in common," Snow stated, right before stuffing a whole hotdog into his mouth. Serah looked at him expectantly, not disgusted at all by his eating display as she waited for him to swallow. "We all love track."

Hope held back a chuckle as Serah's face dropped to a point where it almost looked as annoyed as Lightning's.

From below, some of their peers started clapping and cheering as Fang climbed the bleachers, wearing sweat bottoms to cover up the tight spandex shorts that Lightning had earlier enjoyed watching the girl move up and down the steps in. Fang smiled and lifted her hand to give a number of her teammates high fives until she reached the upper set of seats where her personal fan club sat. "Whew! I think that went well!" she grinned, taking a towel from Vanille to wipe the sweat from around her hairline.

"You did great!" Vanille cheered.

"Yeah," Lightning agreed in a more level tone, but her eyes showed how proud she actually was of her friend. "You really did do well."

"Thanks." Fang beamed. "See that guy over there?" She leaned over to point at a husky man who was hunched over in his seat, paging through a clipboard. "That's the scout for Nautilus U. From the field I could see him watching and smiling at me. I think he's feelin' my swag!"

Lightning rolled her eyes as Fang plopped down on the seat beside her. It was hard to imagine that a couple of hours ago, she had been morbidly terrified of even speaking to Fang. And now, just sitting around and talking like this felt nothing but natural.

"Fang!" Coach Reeves stood up from where he had been sitting amongst the team. "They're about to medal the javelin winners! They need you back on the field!"

"Oh, shit," Fang let slip as she jumped back up to hurry down the bleachers to jog back to the entrance of the field.

"Hmm, you two seem really buddy-buddy," Serah continued to think aloud, pointing a finger from the direction Fang had run back to Lightning. "Is that from the shared love of track, too?"

"Serah, enjoy the meet," Lightning simply ordered, leaning back against the bleacher behind her.

A few minutes passed before one of the meet officials marched Fang, along with the first and third place winners of the javelin throw, out across the field to where the medal blocks were. Fang had a jubilant smile on her face as she stood behind the second place block, waiting for her name to be called on the loudspeaker.

Lightning looked on with admiration as well. She was happy for Fang. This was her little slice of heaven, where it didn't matter if she was from Gran Pulse or Cocoon. She was still treated the same, like a fine teammate and competitor.

Fang and the other two medalists continued to stand patiently as a second official jogged up to the whisper something into the ear of the first.

The name of the third place winner was announced over the loud speaker and met with light applause as said athlete stepped onto the shortest block.

One of the officials placed a hand on Fang's shoulder. Fang turned her head to give him a questioning look as the two began to talk.

"That's strange," Vanille pointed out, using her hand as a visor as she watched the goings-ons on the field. "That never happens. Wonder what's the hold up."

Fang's mouth was starting to move more quickly and she turned around to fully face the two officials. From below, Coach Reeves stood up and made his way down the bleachers to investigate what was going on as well. Fang continued to go back and forth with officials, now adding long, sweeping hand motions to what looked to be a heated conversation with them while the first place medalist continued to stand awkwardly behind the largest block.

"No, no… This can't be good…" Vanille was now saying under her breath, her eyes glued to what was going by the medaling blocks.

Lightning could feel her own muscles beginning to tighten. She had a bad feeling about this as well.

In a matter of moments, Coach Reeves had jogged across the field to enter the conversation. The two officials calmly looked to him and seemed to be explaining something, but whatever they said definitely had to be something that wasn't to his liking because he snatched the hat from his head and slammed it to the ground before thrusting an angry finger into one of the official's faces. The official just shook his head. Fang grabbed the official's arm to turn him to her and from the look on her face, she seemed to be pleading with him. He continued to shake his head and promptly pulled his arm from Fang's grasp.

A name was announced on the loudspeaker again. It was the name of the third place winner, except this time, the announcer was calling them the second place winner. The young athlete turned to give Fang a hesitant look before taking a step up to stand on the second place block instead of the third place one.

Fang turned to face the bleachers. Her expression looked utterly miserable, but she wasn't looking at her team or any of the l'Cie. Lightning turned her head to follow her gaze. She was looking at the recruiter, who was on his cell phone shaking his head with a disappointed look.

Back on the field, Coach Reeves dejectedly picked his hat from off the ground and placed a consoling hand on Fang's shoulder. That's when the Fang's face hardened. She yanked her shoulder away and stormed off the field, nearly bowling over some poor guy who was unlucky enough to be standing in her way as she left.

"Why didn't they call her name?" Hope asked, voicing the question that was on everybody mind.

They would get their answer a moment later when Coach Reeves agitatedly stomped back up the bleachers. "They say she was using performance enhancers, could you believe it?" he announced to the rest of the team. "They said there's no way she could consistently keep placing in all her events the way she did. She even offered to piss in a cup for them! But nooooo, they say they know drugs in action when they see them, and that she definitely was on the drugs. This is bullshit!"

"Oh no…" Vanille murmured, shakily getting to her feet and frantically looking around. "I need to find Fang."

"Vanille," Lightning jumped up and grabbed the redhead's wrist before she could descend the bleachers. "Don't worry about it. You sit down and relax. I'll find Fang."

"No, Lightning, you don't understand. If she gets too mad, she'll…" Vanille froze, not really knowing the right way to explain it without explaining it all, "She's just been really sensitive lately and she can get really bad when she's angry."

"I can get worse."

"No, Lightning, you don't understand!"

"What's going on?" Serah asked, leaning forward to enter to conversation.

Vanille froze again, forgetting that there was a non-l'Cie amongst the group today. Lightning took this as her chance. "Vanille, you can explain Fang's anger issues to Serah while I go find her and defuse them, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer before hopping down the bleachers and weaving through the crowd to search for Fang.

Vanille sighed worriedly after her.

"Snow," Serah said, turning away from direction her sister had just run off in, "Would you like me to get you another hotdog?"

* * *

Lightning jogged a few blocks away from the stadium, hoping to catch any glimpse of Fang. She would finally find success when she heard loud, dull thumpings booming from around a dark corner not to far from where she currently stood. Not wanting to waste any more time, she broke out into a sprint in the direction of the strange noises.

"Arggghhhhh!"

THWOMP!

Metal crumpled around her foot as Fang delivered another mighty kick to an abandoned car that she had found lying about the area. She couldn't see straight. Couldn't think straight. All she could do was seethe.

She grabbed at the nearest thing, a metal trash can, and tossed it against the wall, finding some pleasure in both the way the metal bent and the bricks of the wall broke upon contact.

"Hey!"

She stopped and turned to meet the glacial blue stare of Lightning Farron, who was taking calm strides towards her in the junky lot that she had found.

"Fang, are you okay?"

"Heh. Am I okay?" Fang's shoulders humorlessly hiked up and down. "Does it look like I'm okay?"

Lightning's eyes softened on seeing how much pain the dark-haired girl seemed to be in. "No," she admitted, shaking her head. "You don't. Do you want to talk about it?"

"With you?" Fang asked disbelievingly.

The words cut deep. Deeper than Lightning had expected them to… "I know I'm not the best at the whole feelings—"

"Ha! Hahaha!" Fang's rough and cynical laughter interrupted Lightning's heartfelt offer, almost to the point where it stung. Light was beginning to think that she really should've let Vanille come looking for Fang instead. "Now that's the understatement of the year. And what's there to talk about that isn't already blatantly obvious, hm?!" Fang reared her foot back to kick the battered car again, this time hard enough to make it temporarily jump off the ground before landing with a loud, screeching thud.

"Blatantly obvious…" Lightning mindlessly echoed before tearing her eyes away from the previously airborne car. Fang seemed a bit off of her rocker. Lightning had seen an upset Fang before, but never like this. Never to the point where she would willingly and unapologetically say things she thought would hurt her. "What's—"

"Everything!" Fang roared, this time grabbing the car and sliding it so that it went skidding into the wall of the building with a large crash. Lightning's eyes widened. Had Fang always been that strong? "They say I'm disqualified because I'm using enhancement drugs but they won't even test me?! You tell me how that's fair! How I can consistently get second and third place in most of my events and still be the one accused of cheating!"

The trashcan went flying again into another wall. This time the impact was so rough that it left a trashcan sized cave in the bricks.

"And now, no scout will ever look at me again with drugs on my record! None! Tell me how I'll ever get into uni now! I WORK HARDER THAN EVERY SINGLE OTHER ATHLETE OUT THERE JUST TO CONTROL MYSELF!"

"I know," Lightning softly agreed, chancing a cautious step forward. She couldn't take her eyes off the nylon sleeve over Fang's brand. From beneath it, something seemed to be glowing.

"You know?" Fang snarled.

Lightning halted. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and quickly moved her eyes to scan Fang's face. The girl's voice and taken a dark and sinister turn, one that Lightning didn't care too much for.

"You know?!"

Lightning ducked as a dumpster went flying across the lot, missing the top of her head by only a few feet. "How would you know?," Fang's voice boomed over the thundering sound of the dumpster crashing at the base of the building. "You're Cocoonian! I saw the way ya looked down at everything on my reservation! And the way you're always tryna solve my problems like I'm some poor 'Pulsian' girl who needs the help! You know nothing! And I don't need your damn pity!"

"It's not pity!" Lightning combated. "I'm just trying to be a friend!"

"Oh, you're trying to be a friend? Why the hell even bother?! You're planning on joining the Guardian Corps when this is over anyway!"

Lightning stilled.

"What? Didn't think I knew? What kind of friend joins an organization whose main M.O. is to tear her friend and her friend's people down, huh? A really good one?"

"Fang," Lightning tried to say in the most soothing voice she could manage. "Just because I'm joining the GC doesn't mean—"

"You were there! You saw what they did to me!" Fang interrupted, thrusting an emotional finger downwards to the ground as she spoke. "And that's exactly what you're gonna do when you become one, too. I just hope that since you know my techniques, you'd have the decency to try and dispose of me quick—AH!"

Lightning had had enough. She couldn't be sure whether it were impatience or fear that drove her actions, but before Fang could finish that angry sentence, Light had pulled enough power together to send a heavy chunk of ice flying into her shoulder.

"HEY! Don't you—" Fang stopped again in mid sentence to dodge the another frozen clump that flew her way. With a growl, Fang clenched her fist to punch the next block of oncoming ice before it could hit her, shattering it to pieces. But Lightning wouldn't stop there. Even though it took a lot of energy to make such heavy blocks, she felt it needed to be done. So she kept creating them and sending them off for Fang to angrily punch and scatter. "Fang," she gasped between throwing the chunks of ice, "Calm down before you damage something you can't repair!"

"What if I don't want to calm down, huh?!" Fang yelled as she punched through another ice block. This wasn't working, and Lightning could see that. And it was taking way too much effort to make all these giant cubes.

"What if I want to damage something?!"

Lightning took a deep breath and brought her hands to her chest to summon more magic before flinging them back out towards Fang. A mini tornado filled with snow and ice surged in Fang's direction, but Fang just ground her teeth and braced herself as it violently swirled around her, causing the nearby bricks to frost and snow to pile on the ground as she continued her rant.

"Better yet, what if I want to damage everything?! What if I just decided to give in and—AUGH!"

Lightning's eyes widened and she quickly retracted her hands to call back the mini blizzard she had summoned on seeing Fang's head suddenly kick back and her limbs go rigid before breaking into an aggressive fit of shakes. There was an undeniable light shining from beneath the girl's nylon sleeve, but Lightning barely noticed as she sprinted over to find out what was happening to her friend.

She tried to get closer but it was hard with the powerful tremors that ran through Fang's body. She was afraid that an accidental hit might be strong enough to break one of her own bones. So she just had to watch, horrified, as Fang's body twisted and wretched in its unnaturally crooked position.

There was a loud gasp of air as the shaking suddenly stopped and Fang doubled over, heaving in large, deep breaths.

"Fang? Fang, are you okay?" Light immediately took her chance to rush to the girl and hold her up by the shoulders. "What the hell was that?"

"V-visions," Fang choked, her whole figure now slightly trembling from the ordeal. "I'm sorry. I-I wasn't being serious about what I said before. I don't wanna do it. I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay." Lightning wrapped her arms around Fang and pulled her into a tight hug. "You've got a right to be upset."

"No." Fang shook her head and pulled away. "You don't remember what ya said last night—"

A dagger of guilt stuck straight through Light's heart.

"—Ya really don't care as much as ya should."

That dagger twisted.

Fang was hurt; that much was obvious. And Lightning knew there was nothing she could do to fix what had happened on the field earlier, but if Fang was hurting from their conversation this morning, that was one thing she could probably help. Lightning took a hard swallow and reached out to take the still frenzied Fang's face in her hands.

"If you remembered, then maybe ya—"

Lightning pulled Fang's face forward to interrupt her with a kiss.

She could feel Fang's trembling face stiffen in shock beneath her palms before she slowly began to break contact. She knew she wasn't good with words, but she wanted to say something. She wanted to tell Fang that they were all in this together; that it wasn't just her and Vanille against the world anymore. She wanted Fang to know that she cared because Fang cared… but she wouldn't get a chance to voice these things.

Before Lightning could even attempt a word, Fang had reached out to pull the pinkette back to her. Their kisses started off hard and just as frantic as Fang had been moments earlier, but Lightning was soon able to take control of the tempo and slow them down. After one last, lingering kiss, the two broke away again, both needing time to catch their breath.

"Calm?" Lightning panted, still lightly gripping Fang's cheek.

"Calm," Fang nodded. She lifted her head to survey the wreckage that she must've inflicted on the area in her rage, and Lightning once again felt her body stiffen.

Lightning looked up to make sure she wasn't getting upset again and noticed her fixedly staring at something behind them. Light turned her head to look over her shoulder and her body tensed as well. Standing near the entrance to the lot, with wide and panicky eyes, was her younger sister.

"Serah…"

"Claire?"

"Serah, how long have you been standing there?"

"You—you created a blizzard with your hands…"

"Shit," Lightning sighed. She turned back to Fang, who still looked shaken up herself. "Fang?"

"I'll be okay. Talk to your sister."

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"I'm sure," Fang solemnly nodded.

"Alright. Wait here and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay."

Lightning ran her thumb gently over Fang's cheek before turning to quickly walk over to her shocked sister.

* * *

"Any idea what this is about?" Colonel Farron asked one of the other decorated military men who sat beside him at the long table in HQ's conference room.

"Not even a clue," the gentleman replied, shaking his head. "But I hear Yaag Rosch is heading the meeting, so it must be something important from 'His Royal Highness'."

The colonel just smiled politely and faced forward when Rosch entered the room. It was well known that the Primarch didn't have the highest of approval ratings, but he tried his best not to take sides and just do as he was told.

"Good evening, all," Rosch greeted once he had reached the head of the table. "I know you all must be wondering why I've called for such an impromptu meeting, and I assure you that the matter is not a waste of time." As he received a fair mix of inquisitive and uninterested looks from his audience, Rosch paused to look down at the table and rub his chin. "You know what, we are all honorable members of the government and we know each other well enough where we shouldn't have to entertain all these formalities. I'll just get to the chase.

"As many of you know, I was called to Bodhum to respond to an alarm that went off on one of the area's high-grade energy detectors. Following up on that alarm led me and my team to the Vestige, where we performed a full forensic investigation. In that investigation, we learned that a very ancient and very important artifact had been placed and then taken from the Vestige premises. We had our suspicions, but it has now been confirmed that that artifact was indeed a Pulse fal'Cie."

The room filled with a multitude of amazed whispers as the area's military leaders turned and conversed to themselves in astonishment. Farron could feel a tight knot forming in his stomach and beads of sweat beginning to materialize around his shirt collar. A Pulse fal'Cie had been hiding out in the Vestige?

"Sir!" One man's hand flew up ad Rosch promptly acknowledged him with the nod of his head. "Sir, how is this possible? There's been such a long period of inactivity from fal'Cie on Pulse that it's hard to believe that a Pulse fal'Cie has been living on Cocoon. What was it using its powers for?"

Rosch gave the man a tight smile. "That question actually brings me to my next point. After further investigation, we were able to verify that during its time at the Vestige, the fal'Cie used its powers to create l'Cie minions."

The volume of the whispers increased so that the room was now filled with loud murmurings. Colonel Farron's chest constricted to the point where he thought he would have a heart attack, but he did not allow any of his inner worries show on his face.

"It's been making l'Cie?" A female general asked, looking at Rosch through worried eyes. "How many? How long has it been on Cocoon?"

"Rest assured," Rosch said calmly, never letting his tone stray to any level of uneasiness that would give anyone in the room further reason to fret, "That the l'Cie count must be low. Fal'Cie power usage was only detected once and for a short period of time. New information also supports the idea that there were very few human casualties."

"And what information is that?" Another voice from around the table asked.

"We were able to get our hands around a Puls fal'Cie expert," Rosch answered. "An older gentleman from Pulse who was alive during the time of Pulse fal'Cie rule was used as a consultant concerning fal'Cie matters even then."

"So you used a Pulsian man to receive help about a Pulse fal'Cie?" the general scoffed. "That doesn't sound trustworthy to me."

"Believe me," Rosch's composure never wavered. "He was reluctant to talk at first, but with the right form of coercion, we were able to get the information we needed from him. The man was indeed approached by the minion l'Cie, and he was able to inform us that there were few enough to fit into his small cabin and…" Rosch paused to receive a small stack of stapled papers from one of the analysts behind him. He paged through the papers until he found what he was looking for. "I quote, 'A Pulse fal'Cie would only choose those of Gran Pulsian blood to carry out its divine sentence.'"

As Rosch turned to hand the papers back to the analyst, Farron could feel a heavy weight lifting from his chest. He would not experience full relief, though. Soon, his mind was once again muddled as visions of his two unexpected houseguests from earlier that morning began to float around his head.

"So then we're looking for Pulsians?"

"Doesn't the majority of the Pulsian population live on that reservation on city outskirts? I say we go there and level the place."

"I agree!"

"Comrades!" Rosch raised his voice and lifted his hands in a calming motion as he regained the attention of everyone in the room. "I know that you are all very passionate about this oh so sensitive subject, but we mustn't lose our heads. Our energy detectors can only pick up readings of fal'Cie magic, not of its l'Cie. Therefore, we must be very careful and precise in our actions so that we don't tip the l'Cie off or give them any chance of escape. More importantly, this is why I need all of you."

Everyone at the table grew tensely quiet, awaiting their roles in this grand military operation.

"Right now, our number one priority is to find this fal'Cie, which me and my people are handling. Our second most important priority is to find out the identities of these l'Cie. That is where all of you come in. We need eyes, ears, and firepower in the street, on the net, and especially around the reservation to watch out for anything unusual, anything that may give us hints as to who these rogue l'Cie are. Although they may look physically harmless, you must remember that they are no longer human and that they are rash and extremely dangerous. If they are foolhardy enough to use their powers anywhere outside of their own bedroom walls, I want it to be the last time they ever use them. General, you are on board with the heavy armature initiative, are you not?"

"Yes, sir," the female general responded.

"Good. I would like a word with you after this meeting. And Colonel Farron?"

Farron lifted his head to dead on meet the stare of Yaag Rosch.

"Afterwards, I would like to converse with you in my office as well."


	21. Chapter 21

"So it all started at the Vestige?"

Serah tightly hugged at her shoulders as she and Lightning slowly made their way down the sidewalk together. She felt as if she were still in a daze after witnessing Lightning create large blocks of ice with her bare hands and watching Fang throw a huge dumpster over her head as if it were a beach ball.

"And all of you are affected? Like Hope, Vanille… and Snow?"

"Yeah," Lightning confirmed with a nod. "That's how the five of us became so close."

"And how does it work? Can you hear the fal'Cie talking to you in your head or can he just take control of your body and make you do things for him?"

"It's… nowhere near that fancy. I have dreams at night. Visions. They're nothing too coherent, but they're supposed to be like messages about the fal'Cie wants me to do."

"Visions…" Serah hummed, idly looking down at the cement for a moment. "What do you—"

"Serah," Lightning cut off, coming to a halt on the sidewalk and turning to look at the younger girl. "This is really sensitive information. That's why I wanted to keep it a secret; I don't want you to get pulled into this. Do you know how much trouble you could get in just for knowing about us? The less you know, the better. So I'd really feel more comfortable if you stopped asking so many questions. That especially goes for when talking to Snow and Vanille."

Serah stared at Lightning with a mixture of mild hurt and confusion. "Ligh—I mean, Claire. You're my sister." She reached down to grip Lightning's hand. "I don't care about the consequences. If there's a way for me to help, I want to do it." She gave the hand a squeeze.

"Thanks." Lightning returned the squeeze. "But you don't understand some of the things we've been through... I worry enough about myself, and Hope, and Fang, and Vanille, and even Snow. I don't want to have to start worrying about you, too. So if you really want to help, the best thing you can do is to stay out of it and help us keep a low profile. This means you can't talk about this with anyone."

"Okay. I can do that."

Serah released Lightning's hand as the two started walking again.

"And Serah…" Lightning took a deep breath before continuing. This almost felt harder than confessing that she was a l'Cie. "About what you saw between me and Fang…"

"I know," Serah quickly interjected. Lightning's head flung around to give her younger sibling a puzzled expression. "I've always had an idea, but was never a hundred percent sure," Serah admitted with a shrug. "You don't have to explain anything to me."

Lightning felt a wave of relief wash over her as the two walked around the bend into the lot where they had left Fang. The lot, however, was seemingly devoid of all people. Lightning jogged a few steps further into the space, quickly turning her head left and right in hopes of catching a glimpse of Fang possibly lying down somewhere, but the girl was nowhere to be found. "Fang?" she called, still looking around and walking forward to investigate behind a dumpster. "Fang!" Light couldn't help the heavy feeling that replaced that previous wave of relief as she accepted the fact that Fang was not waiting there for them. "Where did she go…?"

* * *

"Sir, you wished to see me?" Colonel Farron asked as he stepped foot into Rosch's temporary HQ office.

"Colonel. Why, yes." Rosch smiled and slid his chair out in order to walk around his desk to shake his old mentor's hand. "I wanted to take some time out to just talk and get your opinions on the latest update."

"Oh. Well, it came as a shock, of course, especially after having such a quiet week." Farron released an audible breath while giving Rosch a tired look. "It's a lot to swallow. We've all done some training on how to deal with the fal'Cie problem, but I know I don't speak for myself when I say that few of us in that room ever expected we would have to use it. I am a bit concerned on one front, though." Farron was never a man to fidget, but he couldn't help but pull anxiously at his collar as he continued. "In your investigations concerning the fal'Cie's presence in the Vestige… Are there any, um. I mean, concerning the dates, times, and names—"

"Colonel," Rosch succinctly broken in, "If this is about your daughter's covered-up arrest a couple of months ago, you don't need to worry. Once we learned that the fal'Cie shows supreme favoritism to those from Pulse, I decided to dismiss the small misdemeanor as just that, a small misdemeanor. I haven't included her, or her friends, in any of the reports, even though the timing of her incident does arouse interest. Enough interest to have me call you in for this private meeting."

Farron slowly nodded as Rosch took a seat on the edge of the desk. The silver-haired man reached back to pick up a small, velvet box that was sitting on the desk's opposite corner and placed it in his lap before intently staring at Farron again. "Colonel, I respect you. I respect you enough to leave your familial matters alone and not have one of the only remnants of your lovely, late wife dragged into this very building to be questioned on acts of treason against Cocoon. But I also hope that you respect me enough to let me know, right now in this office, if there is any information from that arrest that may relate to this fal'Cie problem."

Farron's thoughts began to race a mile a minute. There were two very big pieces of information that related to the fal'Cie problem, but they were two big pieces that also seemed to be very related to both his daughters. It was impossible for him to know just how much Claire could be embroiled in this ordeal, if there was an ordeal for her to be embroiled in at all. She wasn't being called into questioning now, but who knew what acts she could be incriminated for later if something was indeed amiss. So, with an uplifted head and a heavy conscience, Colonel Farron looked Rosch straight in the eyes and answered, "No."

Rosch stared back at Farron critically. His disapproval of Farron's answer was apparent on his face, but he wouldn't voice it.

"I see," he finally replied. "In any case, since you will be a leader of one of our new task forces, I thought it would be important to give you this." Rosch flipped open the top of the box in his lap and reached in to pull out a shiny, metallic bracelet. Without a word, he lifted it and dangled it in the air for Farron to take.

The colonel accepted the bracelet and immediately held it up in the light to examine it. "What is this?"

"A suppressor cuff. If you latch one of these around a l'Cie's wrist, it should inhibit him from using his powers. They are quite expensive to make, so we've had to be choosy with who we hand them out to."

Farron looked down with furrowed brows to give Rosch an inquisitive look. "And you thought that I would be a deserving candidate?"

"I thought that you are a man of action," Rosch replied firmly. "And that you have a teenage daughter who seems to be sitting on the outskirts of this investigation. I know teenagers can be rebellious and they can sometimes find themselves in questionable situations with questionable people. I also know that good parents do what they can to help their children avoid such questionable situations. So I want you to keep that one. And if something questionable just so happens to arise… You can give it a definite answer."

* * *

"A little help would be nice!" Snow shouted as he lifted one purse-snatcher over his head with one hand and flung the crook's accomplice into a plastic set of outdoor restaurant tables with the other.

"Looks like you're doing fine by yourself," Lightning replied distractedly, twirling her phone between her fingers while not even attempting to move from her seat on top of one of the nearby benches. The only reason she had even come to this week's Superhero Night was because she thought there was a slim chance that Fang would show up. Obviously, that chance was much slimmer than she had hoped…

Apparently while Lightning had been off talking to Serah during the meet, Fang had gone back to the stadium to pick up Vanille and high tail it. Fast-forward a number of missed phone calls and unanswered texts later… and Lightning was now stuck wearing a black hoodie and mask that she had been argued into putting on, playing sidekick to Snowman in hopes of getting an audience with the girl. In the back of her mind, she just couldn't help but wonder if she had gone too far while Fang had been in such an emotional state.

"That's it!" Snow lifted his arms to conjure the best wind spell he could muster at the moment and used it to send a barrage of plastic furniture to swirl around and assault the two criminals until they were laid out across the ground in unconsciousness.

"Wowwwwwwww."

Lightning turned her head to spy a young girl, her eyes wide in wonder, gawping at Snow's heroism through the lens of a camera phone.

"Mister! Mister! That was awesome!" She chirped excitedly, bouncing up and down.

Snow grinned and reached a hand around his head to adjust his bandana-mask so that his eyes could clearly shine through its eyeholes. "Why, thank you, Little Miss," he said in his raspy, imitation-hero voice. "It's all in a day's work for… Snowman."

"Ugh, this is nauseating," Lightning muttered, pulling herself from the bench to tiredly march over to the gloating Snow. "And stop that. No cameras." She reached a hand out to block the lens of the child's phone and push it down.

"Heyyyy!" the girl squeaked in an aggravated voice.

"Yeah! Heyyy!" Snow parroted as Lightning ushered him away, quite upset about the interruption of his photo op. "She was just a kid!"

Lightning sighed as she came to a stop. "Why do I feel like I'm always repeating myself with you? Any publicity is bad publicity, got it?"

"Sure… Got it. What crawled up your—"

Lightning glared at him.

"I mean, uh, not feeling too hot today, huh?"

Lightning sighed. Snow was the very last person that she wanted to be having one of these conversations with. The only problem was, that despite her never usually wanting to talk about her feelings, she just felt as if she needed to voice her concerns about Fang. Keeping it to herself was beginning to physically ache.

"It's Fang. After Serah found out about our powers, she just ghosted on me and hasn't returned any calls or texts since. I'm worried about her."

"Oh. Yeah… Well, she did have a rough day with the whole having her hopes and dreams chewed up and spit back into her face thing," Snow began sympathetically. "And I know she may seem like Wonder Woman from the way she's always joking around and never letting the heavy stuff weigh her down, but she's still a young woman who inside is as delicate as a flower. Trust me. I've been reading up on the intricacies of the feminine mystique."

Lightning's lips curled downwards into a disapproving frown. Okay. She did need to talk to someone about things, but conversing with Snow was obviously not going to work.

"Snow, I need a ride to the reservation."

* * *

When driving into the reservation's living area, Snow and Lightning were met with the same guarded and suspicious looks that they had received the first time, but at least it was dark outside and not as many people were out and about to give them. They also now knew where Fang and Vanille lived, so it was much easier for them to evade public eye by hurrying to knock on the trailer door.

Neither Fang nor Vanille answered. Instead, they were greeted by the surprised stare of Dane, the tall, lean boy who had given them such a hard time the last time they had been in this part of the reservation. Lightning and Snow must've looked just as surprised as he was, because before anyone could get a word out, he raised his hands and said, "Don't mind me. I was just leavin'." He squeezed out the door, past the two Cocoonians, before turning one last time to look into the trailer at Vanille, who had been standing behind him when Light and Snow had first knocked. "And 'Nille? Just remember if either of ya need anything, give me call. Ya hear that, Scruffles?!" The boy raised his voice on asking his last question and loudly knocked his fist against the side of the trailer, lifting his eyes up as if trying to spy something over the doorframe. His question received no answer and he just sighed before giving Vanille one last, subdued smile and descending the trailer steps.

Lightning curiously watched him go before following Snow into the trailer and closing the door behind her.

"Hey, guys," Vanille welcomed in an unusually low voice. She looked tired. Not tired in the sense that it was almost time for her to go to sleep, but more in the sense that she looked emotionally spent. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting to see you all again today. Is something wrong?"

Snow glanced over to Lightning, who uncomfortably shifted her weight from one foot to the other. All the bravado she had felt in the car ride here had spontaneously combusted into nerves the moment that Dane had opened that trailer door.

"Uhh, no. Nothing's wrong. We just wanted to check on Fang."

Vanille looked over their faces apprehensively, but then released a breath that made her shoulders sag. "She's on the roof." She pointed a slim finger to the trailer's ceiling. "Sometimes she goes up there to think. I'm sure she'd appreciate the two of you coming to visit though. If you want to get up there, you'll have to climb up through the window."

Snow's vision darted from Lightning to Vanille to the open window located in the wall above the trailer's small kitchen table. "Vanille, it looks like you could use some company too," he finally said. "And I don't think I could fit through that window anyway. Lightning, you go ahead."

Lightning glanced gratefully in Snow's direction before climbing on top of the table and beginning her crawl through the window. She turned when she was halfway through to sit on the still and peer upwards. There was a clear view of the sky from here, unshielded by trees. She raised her body to then reach up and grab at the top of the trailer while planting her feet down onto the sill.

When she had finally pulled herself up onto the trailer's roof, she immediately noticed Fang, stretched out and staring at the sky with her arms lying flat at her side. She did nothing to acknowledge Light's presence on the roof with her, just continued to stare up. Lightning could feel her own nerves begin to pick at her once again. She was sure that she had had some sort of speech or game plan thought out for how everything would go, but now she couldn't remember a single thing. So instead, she just sat down before stretching her legs out to lie beside Fang and stare into the sky as well.

"Sorry. About earlier," Fang finally croaked, still staring straight up. Lightning turned to look at her. "Didn't mean to offend ya. Especially with the Guardian Corps stuff."

Although she knew that Fang wasn't watching to see, Lightning nodded as she thought of a reply. "I meant what I said back there, you know," she stated. "Or what I was going to say. When all of this is over, me being in the Guardian Corps won't change anything. I'm joining to uphold justice. And that doesn't mean promoting prejudice and foul play. It means doing right by you and your people, too. Maybe all the GC really needs is more people on the inside willing to work for what's right."

"Hphhh…" Light could hear a soft puff of air being exhaled from Fang's nostrils. "When all this is over, aye?"

Light wasn't sure how to interpret Fang's murmur. It sounded plagued with disbelief, but in a distant, almost indescribable way…

"But Light," Fang started again, a perturbed look on her face, "The stuff I said to ya was outta line. Wish ya didn't have to see me like that. I… just things…" Fang closed her eyes hard before opening them again. "Everything's a mess. I really am sorry."

Lightning turned her gaze back to the stars. It would just be too easy if they would spell out the perfect thing to say to Fang at this time, but life didn't work like that. Or maybe it sometimes did… "See that clump of stars right there? The ones that go up and down with those two sticking out like that?" Lightning pointed up and moved her finger to trace around a random, group of stars. "That's a constellation that we like to call Irene."

Fang stared at the scattered dots attentively. She couldn't really see any recognizable shape to them. "I thought you didn't know any star stories."

"I know this one," Lightning answered. "Pretty well, actually. It's about a girl named Irene. Irene lost someone she cared about when she was young, and it hurt her very much. Not just her, but everyone around her too, so much so that it caused everyone and everything around her to change… change in ways that made Irene angry. And as time passed, Irene held on to that anger. She could've tried letting it go, but deep down she didn't want to. It was so much easier to just carry that anger around and use it as a shield. So even though she lived in the sky, surrounded by so many other beautiful stars, she still couldn't find it in her heart to just, I don't know... I guess be happy."

"She sounds like a handful."

"She is," Lightning confirmed, squinting at the stars with a bit of a contemplative look on her face. "At one point, almost everyone just wrote her off as a lost cause. That is until one day, when the Drunken Knight appeared in her sky." She then moved her hand across the sky to point at the constellation that Fang had told her about on their first Superhero Night. "The Drunken Knight is considered to be the joke of the sky. No one knows too much about its personality or history, they just know it as a drunkard whose sword is always drooping, and they treat it like a lesser constellation because of that… but the Knight still goes on shining as bright as ever. And every night, when Irene would look across the sky and see the Drunken Knight shining so brightly, it would change her because she wanted to shine like that too. So no matter how many times the Drunken Knight's stars may flicker, it doesn't matter to Irene. Because she's seen, over and over again, how bright of a constellation the Knight really is."

Fang made a soft chortling noise and her face relaxed into a faint smile as she switched her gaze between the Drunken Knight and Lightning's clump of stars, mostly thinking of how ironic it was that she got cast as the drunken one in this story. But just as quickly as it had emerged, the soft smile on her face faded. "Ya know, you don't have keep going out of your way to do things ya think I'd like whenever I'm in a mood. Like the stars… and earlier today at the meet."

Lightning could feel her heart picking up speed. Fang was referring to the kiss, or the multiple kisses, that they had shared in the lot earlier today. She took a calm breath before tentatively letting her hand creep across the small distance between herself and Fang until her pinky and ring fingers were wheedling their way to loosely entangle with some of the slender digits on one of Fang's hands. "It hasn't felt like I've been going out of my way. Everything I did today, I did because I've really wanted to do it."

Fang turned her head away from the sky, for the first time since Lightning had gotten on the roof, to stare at their barely conjoined hands. She slightly lifted their hands to further study the loose grasp. Her face gently scrunched at the brows as she thought over an idea in her head, weighing the pros and cons and trying to guess the imminent consequences. Her brow relaxed as she came to an answer, and she raised their hands a bit higher before slightly twisting her own so that all of her fingers intertwined with Lightning's.

"Light…"

Green eyes moved up to meet blue.

"I wanna go on a date."


	22. Chapter 22

"I am so, so sorry for being so late," Fang continued to apologize, minutes after having picked Lightning up from her house. "It's just that I share the car, and the guy who was using it before me didn't get back 'til late, and—"

"Really, it's no big deal," Lightning tried to convince her, "You weren't that late. At the most, we'll just miss the previews and opening credits."

"Okay. Yeah." Fang bobbed her head up and down in understanding, but that stressed look as if she were guilty of committing murder was still very much evident on her face.

Deep down, a part of Fang really couldn't wait until she got a chance to get back to the reservation to chew Dane out. He knew what she had had planned for tonight and still kept the car out late, blaming a sudden surge in business at Sazh's for it. She should've known he'd pull something like this from the moment she told him she needed the car for a date. She could still hear his voice in her head asking, "With who? The pink-haired Cocoonian chick who savagely ran us down in the street that one time and tied Flea to a mailbox? No, no problem. I'll get the car back to ya in tip top shape for it." She didn't even notice until she had already sped a few miles off the reservation that there was some weird, funky smell emanating from somewhere unbeknownst to her in the vehicle.

Beside her, Lightning kept checking from Fang to the window. The extra time she had spent at home waiting for Fang to pick her up did nothing to quell the extreme nervousness she had been feeling all evening. If nothing else, the suspenseful time by herself had made her even antsier. However, she was able to find a little comfort in being able to see that she wasn't the only nervous person in the vehicle.

A few minutes later, Fang pulled the car into the lot for the week's drive-in movie special. Fang had initially suggested this venue because it was a place rarely visited by most of Bodhum's teenage population, which she thought would make Lightning feel more at ease about being there with her. Fang also didn't mind the extra privacy that would be afforded to them by staying in her car.

As predicted, the previews were just beginning to wrap up as they pulled into a spot near the back, as most of the prime spots had already been taken. "For contraception's sake…" Fang breathed, leaning forward against the steering wheel to peer out the windshield at the small groups of children screaming and running zigzags around many of the parked cars, "Who in the hell brings this many kids to a drive-in horror film?"

Lightning also let her eyes wander to follow some of the youngsters on the other side of the windshield. As a famed neighborhood babysitter for a few of these little demons, she knew quite well why. "So they don't embarrass their parents at an actual movie theatre and get bored enough to either fall asleep or leave mommy and daddy alone while they run around outside with the other overly-active neighborhood kids."

"Hmm. The little boogers are lucky I didn't accidentally run their tiny asses over…" Fang mumbled, not liking how mood-threatening all the screaming little kids were. She then paused. Threatening to run over small children with one's car wasn't good date-conversation material, was it? "Uhh, I mean, ahem!" Fang cleared her throat nervously as she thought of a decent cover-up. "It's just such a safety hazard and I would hate to see any of these little angels harmed or…"

THUD! "Eeee heeee heee heee heee!"

Fang turned her head to disdainfully glare at where one particular child had ran into the side of her car before jumping back to his feet, maniacally screaming, and racing off again. "….in some way incapacitated."

Lightning arched an eyebrow at the girl.

"I, uh… Do ya want me to go get some popcorn or something?"

"No, no thanks. I'm fine," Lightning politely declined. She folded her arms tightly against her chest and snuggled into her seat as Fang fiddled with the radio to find the station that the movie was playing on.

"It was 106.3, right?"

"Yeah. It's written on the receipt stub."

"Awww, fuck me sideways…" Fang let out in an exasperated breath as she hunched over to inspect the radio. Lightning just watched her curiously, wondering what was going on until Fang turned up the station's volume. The sound from the movie was competing over a constant hum of static in the background and would sporadically go into pitchy fits where the volume would jump from extremely high to extremely low, making it clear enough for them to hear and understand everything that was being said, but contorted enough to make sure that they would be utterly annoyed by it the entire time.

"Does it look like anyone else is having this problem?" Fang asked, turning to look out of her window in an attempt to spy into someone else's car. Apparently everyone else seemed pleased, so Fang leant over to play with the radio a bit more. After turning to a few of the area's music stations, the problem became clear. It wasn't the station, but the radio itself. "I don't get it," Fang thought aloud, lifting her eyes to look at Lightning apologetically. "It was working just earlie—" she halted in mid-statement then grumbled something under her breath that Lightning couldn't catch.

"It's fine," Lightning excused, just wanting to be able to get on with the date without any more speed bumps. "It's supposed to be a scary movie anyway, right? Maybe it'll add to the ambiance."

"I'd like to add my foot to a certain someone's 'ambiance' right about now…"

Lightning allowed the girl to grump as she settled back into her seat.

As the movie played on, Fang furtively glanced from Lightning to the screen. "It's, uh, kinda chilly in here, don't ya think?" She slowly began to stretch her arm out to reach behind the middle of the front seat. "Maybe we should—mmmm…" Fang's request slowly faded out as she watched Lightning lean forward to adjust the car's heat settings.

As Light began to lean back to snuggle into the crook made by her seat and the car door again, she turned her head to glimpse at Fang, curious as to why the girl had trailed off in the middle of her statement the way she did. She immediately realized her fault, along with the hidden intent of Fang's question, when she saw the dismayed look that passed over Fang's face as she slowly retracted her invitational arm. "Oh…"

Shit.

"Um…" Lightning nervously looked back out towards the screen of the movie that neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to anymore. "The windshield's kind of foggy on my side. Maybe I should… sit closer on yours?"

Fang stared at her blankly for a quick moment before her brows lifted and eyes perked up. "Oh! Uh, yeah. Yeah. Here. Lemme raise this up for ya."

Fang reached to lift the small compartment between them that could fold up to convert into a middle seat space, but as she lifted the piece up, a pungent odor filled the car.

"Oh, gods…" Light groaned, covering her nose with her hand.

Fang's eyes narrowed as she continued to lift the compartment upwards. "And of course…" she grumbled to herself as she eyed the long, thick tendons of murky ooze that reached up from the seat cushion to continue to cling to the bottom of the compartment as it rose higher and higher in the air. That settled it. Dane was definitely getting a foot in the ass when she got home. Not being able to really stand the foul odor that now entirely filled the car, Fang dropped the compartment back down and rolled down the windows. Unless she could somehow convince Light to sit in her lap during some point in the movie, it looked as if all cuddling hope was lost.

More quiet minutes passed between the two, mostly spent with both of them trying to discreetly stick their heads further out the windows to get more fresh air. After one line where a woman's shrill voice suddenly jumped up five levels of volume in mid-scream, Lightning agitatedly reached forward to shut the radio off. Fang turned her head from the window to watch her date inquisitively.

"The dialogue wasn't good enough to bear through the radio to begin with," Lightning explained.

Fang slowly lifted and lowered her chin in an understanding nod. "So now it becomes a silent film?" she asked.

Lightning hadn't really thought it through that much. She had just reached a tipping point with all the mishaps that were going on tonight. She thought if she couldn't control the smell, at least she could control the sound, but now that left her in the car with Fang, alone in silence. Part of the allure of going to see a movie with the other girl was that she wouldn't have to talk. She consistently admitted to herself that she wasn't much of a talker, and she couldn't help but feel that that would end up being a huge turn-off for Fang, a girl who always seemed to have something to say. Just thinking about it made her sweat glands kick up as if she were doing a triathlon and her stomach stir from all the nerves. She tried to hold onto the thought that she had sat in this very same car with Fang hundreds of times already without radio assistance. Certainly she could do it again for just another hour or so without coming off as a total bore.

"Hehehe. Look at that guy's face."

Lightning snapped back reality to see Fang smiling and pointing at the man currently on the screen.

"Dude's totally freakin' out," Fang continued to chuckle. "Whattaya think he's saying?"

Lightning examined the man's horrified face for a moment, and with such a pained expression, only one thought could come to her mind for a caption. She wasn't sure if it were the best thing to say, but it was the only thing she could think of and anything was probably better than silence, so she lowered her voice in an attempt to make herself sound more manly, and ground out, "Etro, at the rate this movie's going, even I'm going to owe the audience money for time wasted."

Fang lightly chuckled before letting her smile tone down into more of a subdued smirk. She lightly cleared her throat before speaking in a high-pitched feminine voice as a woman now appeared on the screen, "Well, Johnny, it's not like we actually expected people to be watching the movie."

Lightning's eyebrows flew up. She turned to look at Fang with a slightly critical expression on her face. Fang just shrugged in a "don't act so surprised" sort of way. When the man appeared again, Lightning lowered her voice to reply, "What exactly did you expect everyone to be doing, Judith?"

"Something a bit more entertaining, Johnny," Fang spoke again in her high-pitched tone as well. "Everyone does happen to be sitting in dark cars with spacious back seating."

Lightning was now staring callously at her date, who was contentedly staring at the screen, a smug look on her face, and ignoring the taken aback pinkette sitting next to her. "Kind of ambitious to think anyone would be getting that physical on the first date, don't you think, Judith?"

Fang then turned to innocently gaze upon Lightning with a slightly confused expression on her face. "I was only talkin' about having a popcorn war, Johnny." Lightning's face dropped into one of plain disbelief. "But don't feel bad. The other thought has crossed my mind before too." Fang winked.

Lightning could feel her cheeks begin to redden as Fang faced the screen again and fought to hold in a smile.

"You're an ass. You know that, right?"

Fang couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I'm sorry, but you should've seen your face. It was soooo good!"

"Glad to see someone's being entertained."

"Aww, don't be like that. It was just a joke. Want me to make it up to ya? Should I stand in front the screen and break into another dance routine?"

Lightning now tried to fight back the smirk that was pulling at the corner of her own lips as she watched the screen and continued to act as if she were giving Fang the cold shoulder.

"C'mon…"

Lightning slightly jumped on feeling a warm hand grasp and cradle her own. She peeled her eyes away from the screen to see Fang leaning across the middle compartment with Light's hand in hers. "Is there anything I can do to help save this date even a little?"

Light released a relenting sigh and looked up to meet Fang's eyes. The girl looked so eager for an answer. "The car might be trashed and the movie might be trashy, but it could be wors—"

"THAT'S IT!"

Neither Fang nor Lightning had enough time to register the high-pitched shout before two neon colored lines zipped past their faces.

"Huh?" Fang curiously turned around just as another neon strain spurted in through the car window and straight into her face. "AHH!" Fang yelled, quickly snatching to pull the bunched substance off her cheeks and out of her eyes. She clutched the gooey, stringy mess in her hand and leaned forward to sniff at it. Silly string… "What in the name of—"

"Halt, evil doer!"

A small face popped up in the driver's seat window as young boy stuck his head into the car.

"Yeah! Halt!" Another voice chimed in as an even smaller boy stuck his head through the passenger seat window, right where Lightning was carefully peeling silly string from off of her top.

"Fiend! We command you to stop bothering the nice, pink-haired lady!" the child in the driver's seat window exclaimed in a raspy voice.

Fang narrowed her eyes. "You little twat…" she growled. "You have til the count of—Aaah!" Fang spluttered as another wave of silly string was shot directly in her face.

"You're safe, Little Miss!" the child called to Lightning, who had just finished tossing a handful of silly string out of her car-side window, watching disinterestedly as it bounced off the forehead of the kid whose face was peering through it. "C'mon, Jackson! Let's find another crime to bust!"

The two children backed away from the car and looked around in search for another vehicle with its windows rolled down as Fang once again finished picking silly string off of her face. "If you two don't get the hell outta here!" she threatened once she was able to clearly see again.

Both children yelped and broke out into a run. "It's all in a day's work for Snowman!" one of them called behind them as they ran.

Fang paused for a moment as she watched the kids curiously. "Light, did you hear that? I think that kid just called himself—"

"Fang, this isn't working…"

"Huh?" Fang quickly turned around to give Lightning an alarmed look.

"Oh. No," Lightning quickly corrected on seeing the anxiety in Fang's eyes. "Not-not this." She used two fingers point to Fang before rolling back to point at herself. "But THIS." She then looked around the car signal the whole movie situation. "Do you… do you want to get out of here?"

Fang let out a relieved breath. "Pretty badly, actually."

* * *

Fang leaned forward on her toes to look over the grassy edge of the ridge that they stood on. "So we're supposed to just jump off it?" she asked, looking up at Lightning for confirmation.

"Yeah. As long as you're holding one of these, you should be fine," Lightning assured, pulling a small anti-grav unit from out of her pocket. Ever since she had snatched a handful from PSICOM HQ, she had been carrying a few around with her in case of an emergency, and if the disaster at the drive-in didn't qualify as an emergency, she didn't know what did.

"And it magically just creates a nice, big, electricky cushion for us to land on?"

Lightning turned to give Fang a disbelieving look. "You can shoot white balls of energy out of your hands whenever you want, but you don't have faith in a scientifically trusted mechanism?"

Fang tilted her head and casually shrugged her shoulders.

"I thought that the esteemed hunter, Oerba Yun Fang, whose first kill was a mighty behemoth, was supposed to be fearless. I was told that she used to love cliff jumping on Gran Pulse before she even had super powers. What happened to that?"

Fang gave Lightning a look as if to reproach her for mocking her. "That was different. There were pools and lakes at the bottom. And big, uh…" She fluttered her hands as she unsuccessfully thought of the name that she wanted to say next. "Big flying things in the air. Not a little push pin whose technique is to just hold on and pray."

"Isn't the thrill of it supposed to be half the fun?"

"Sure. If you're thrilled about dying."

Lightning rolled her eyes as she took a second anti-grav out of her pocket. She had assumed that it would be much easier to persuade Fang into cliff jumping considering how much she had loved to do it back on her home planet. "Just trust me." She placed an anti-grav unit into Fang's hand, letting her fingers slowly run over Fang's as she closed the other girl's hand over the device. She could feel a twinge of triumph on seeing the little smile peeking from the corner of Fang's lips at the small gesture. "It'll be worth it when we get to the bottom."

Fang grinned and clenched the anti-grav device tighter in her hand. "If that's the case…" Fang turned her back to the edge of the cliff and stretched out her arms. "…then see ya there." She gave Lightning one of her customary winks before falling backwards over the edge. Lightning smirked after her before hopping over the side of the cliff herself.

The sensation of cliff jumping was much more exciting than jumping off of a jungle gym with her father when she was younger. The wind rushing past her body, the feeling of her stomach dropping, and not to mention the beautiful, tan young woman beside her (who scrunched her nose and made various cute faces at her during their descent) made Lightning feel an unexplainable spark of excitement.

Just as Lightning had said, when the girls neared the ground, two big, electromagnetic pillows swallowed them to cushion their falls, allowing them both to gracefully land on two feet.

"That felt amazing!" Fang whooped, a huge smile plastered across her face. "Almost like back on Gran Pulse! The air! And the wind! And the-the gravity!" Fang was speaking more with her hands than with her words as she paced back and forth, that wide smile still on her face as she looked back and forth from the small anti-grav device in her hand to the sky. "It was just—man…" Her eyes then landed on Lightning and the girl took a deep breath to calm herself down before continuing. "Just… thanks, Light."

Lightning could feel herself beginning to blush for the second time that night. She had expected the activity to go over well, but not this well. "Don't sweat it. I've been wanting to try this out myself for awhile now, so it helped learning that you used to cliff jump," she excused modestly, turning to look away from Fang and back to the path up the ledge. All the while, Fang just watched her with a warm and knowing expression on her face. Lightning's face was feeling so heated that she just knew it probably looked more like a beet was attached to her neck rather than a head. "Do you want to go again?" she blurted, feeling the need to find another activity that would distract from the deepening redness in her face. "Let's hurry up and go again. I'll race you." And without waiting for an answer, Lightning took off up the grassy path to the top of the hill.

As she ran, her thoughts circled around scenarios of how she could play it more cool for the rest of the night. She was so into her own thoughts that she didn't even hear the quick footsteps in the grass behind her that continued to work at a double-timed pace until a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her to the ground to tumble in the grass.

"Hey!" Lightning gasped when the two of them had come to a rolling stop. Fang's arms were wrapped securely around Lightning's upper body, keeping the pinkette's own arms pinned closely to her sides, and her knees were tightly pushing on the outside of Light's thighs.

"Sorry, love," Fang apologized with a smile, as she leant close to Light's ear. "Just didn't want ya to get the jump on me."

Lightning's body stilled as Fang jumped from on top of her to start running up the hill again. She could've sworn that for a short moment, just a tiny millisecond, that she had felt Fang's lips graze her neck, right near the base of her jaw line, in a quick kiss. Without much thought, her fingers ghosted over the spot as she watched Fang's back begin to move further and further up the grassy slope. This date really was starting to get a bit better.

Still feeling a bit numb with shock, Lightning clambered to her feet to take off after the Gran Pulsian.

* * *

"…because all that runnin' and cliff divin' has definitely got me beat," Fang admitted as she and Lightning walked up the path to the Cocoonian's front door. "And you said ya don't get physical on the first date."

Lightning turned to give Fang a stern look as she they stopped at her doorstep. Fang let out a shaky breath of air and ran a hand through her hair, noticing how inappropriate her comment actually might've been at that exact moment. "Uh… soooo…" she dawdled nervously, sending a sheepish glance Lightning's way as the two stood by her front door. "Guess this is it, then."

"Yeah…" Lightning breathed, sending her own nervous glances right back at Fang. She had felt so comfortable and at ease with Fang just moments before, but now it felt as if she were sitting in that quiet car, not sure how to properly use her words again.

The girls continued to stand awkwardly at the doorstep for a while longer, mindlessly fidgeting and swaying before Fang finally cleared her throat. "I should probably get goi—"

"Do you want some water?"

Fang raised an eyebrow and looked at Lightning with a puzzled expression.

"I mean, we did do a lot of running and you said you were tired, so do you want to come in? For some water?"

"Oh… Uh, sure."

Lightning gave a resolute nod and quickly turned to unlock the door. She led the way through the dark living room to the kitchen, where she reached into the refrigerator to pull out two water bottles. She handed one to Fang before opening her own to take three large, nervous gulps.

Fang opened her bottle and just stared into it for a second before looking up at Light again. "So on a scale from one to ten, how badly would ya end up rating this date?"

Lightning paused in the middle of her fourth mouthful of water before taking a hard swallow and slowly lowering the bottle away from her lips. "Probably around a four, four and a half," she admitted.

"Wow. I'm glad we're past the sugarcoating point in this relationship…"

"But it really wasn't that bad," Lightning quickly covered. "Especially near the end. I had a lot of fun." Fang's eyes lit up from across the room. "Which shouldn't be such a surprise. It's not hard to have a good time with you around."

A light smile graced Fang's features as the tanned girl looked to the ground in search for something else to say. "So then ya wouldn't mind if we went out again? On another date? Or better yet, a better date? This time I promise, no—"

"Claire? Is that you?"

Fang paused as the tall and muscular Colonel Farron stepped into the kitchen, donned in an old PSICOM training t-shirt and sweatpants. The man froze as well on seeing the Gran Pulsian standing in his house, only a few feet away from him.

"Dad!" Lightning let out in shock, staring at Farron as if he were a ghost. "I-I didn't know you were home. Your car wasn't outside."

"I parked it in the back today," Farron replied, giving his houseguest a calculating stare. "Yun Fang."

"Mr. Farron," Fang greeted in a low voice. There was something unnerving about seeing the man in such casual attire. Every other time she had seen him, he had been wearing a suit. It almost reminded her of a story she had heard when she was younger about a scorpion that tried to dress up as a mouse in order to drop its enemies defenses.

Farron kept his steely blue eyes trained on Fang as the girl uncomfortably looked down to the floor. "I was unaware that you two were training today," the man said, now looking to his daughter.

"Uhhhh, we weren't."

Fang's head flew up to look at Lightning inquisitively.

"We were out with a study group. We have history together."

"Oh," Mr. Farron said with a distant look on his face, making it hard for either girl to be able to tell whether he had accepted Lightning's explanation or not.

"It's getting late," Fang announced, making a slow move for the door. Her discomfort levels were currently on the verge of reaching an all-time high. "I should start heading back to the—"

"No. Stay," Farron encouraged. He took a few more steps into the kitchen to lean against the island.

Both Lightning and Fang's jaws slightly dropped at the request.

"W-w-what?"

"Dad?"

"You seem to get along well with my daughters." Fang couldn't shake this uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, despite the very amiable face that the colonel wore as he spoke to her. "And here I am, feeling as if I don't know you at all."

"Oh. Okay..." Fang said unsurely, trying to take an inconspicuous step closer to the kitchen door.

"So why don't we amend that now? I'd love to know more about you. First things first, I must say that I'm quite impressed that you've been able to keep up with my Claire on the sparring field. When she was still competing, she used to burn through partners, matches, and teachers alike." Farron settled more against the island so that he was contentedly staring the still confused Fang in the face.

"Um, Dad?" Lightning asked softly, taking a quiet step closer to her father with somewhat concerned eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Don't be childish, Claire," Farron dismissed, waving his daughter off. "I'm fine. So, Yun Fang, how is it that you fight so well? Have you had any official training?"

"I, uh… I've trained under my elders a bit. That's all."

"Starting at what age?"

"Young?"

"And you continued this training even after moving to Cocoon?"

"Dad!" Lightning shot again, immediately garnering the attention of the other two people in the room. "I mean, Dad. It's our off day. Can we not talk about training?"

"Very well, then," Farron consented, before turning back to Fang. "So exactly how many non-sparring outings do the two of you go on together?"

Fang's eyes grew panicky and she quickly glanced to Lightning. Light could feel her own muscles tense as she took a step behind her father and whipped out her phone to send a quick text to Serah:

**"SOS. Get dad upstairs NOW"**

"I guess…" Fang drug out under Farron's questioning stare, "I guess we might—"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" a shrill cry from upstairs interrupted her. Farron's head darted to the ceiling. "DADDY! DADDY! COME QUICK!"

Farron released a loud sigh before looking back down to the two girls currently in the room with him. "Seems like I have to make a trip upstairs. But you," his eyes were once again studying Fang, "don't go anywhere. There's more I'd like to talk to you about."

Fang simply nodded, not knowing what else to do as the colonel left the kitchen to jog up the stairs. Her fixed stare on the stairwell was interrupted by Lightning roughly grabbing her wrist and pulling her out the kitchen and towards the front door. "We've got to get you out of here," she simply explained, without breaking stride. "I don't know what that was about, but something weird is definitely going on with him. Might be the resurgence of the flan flu or something…"

Fang just obediently followed as Lightning marched her all the way back to her car.

"Could be somethin' else." Fang had indeed thought that it was weird that her arch-nemesis had taken such a friendly curiosity to her life all of a sudden, but now that she was safely out of the house, she was starting to see the comedic value of the whole situation. "Maybe he's finally just warmin' up to me. We did have a moment a while back, ya know."

Lightning shot Fang a stale look that made the taller girl chuckle in return.

"Alright, alright. But I really should get going before he does come back down to start asking about what I had for breakfast this morning or something… So I guess this is goodnight-goodnight then?"

Lightning's stomach started to flutter. This was the exact nervous situation that she had been trying to avoid when she had invited Fang inside for water in the first place. "I guess so. We can talk later about a second date, if that sounds good."

Fang smiled and nodded. "Heh, sounds great. So, uh…" Fang bit the inside of her lip and watched as Lightning took a sudden interest in her nails. Hell, they were on a time limit and Serah couldn't stall the colonel forever, just like they couldn't stand outside beating around the bush forever. She just had to put her nerves aside and go for the gold; it was now or never.

Gathering all the courage that she could muster, Fang slowly, nervously leaned forward. As she inched closer, she flicked her eyes up to peep at Light, who hadn't moved at all the entire time. The pinkette's facial expression was damn near unreadable, not giving Fang any clues as to what the girl might actually want and ultimately killing most of the nerve Fang had gathered only seconds before. Making a last second decision, Fang craned her neck around to press a kiss to Lightning's cheek… just as Lightning turned her head to barely graze the corner of Fang's lips with her own.

Both girls stiffened and jumped back in surprise.

"I'm sorry! I thought—"

"My fault! I totally thought—"

Just as they had both started apologizing at the same time, the two of them simultaneously stopped to stare at each other before both letting out two pent up breaths.

Fang looked to Lightning earnestly, allowing her eyes to silently communicate her next question. _Try again?_

Lightning nodded and tilted her chin up as Fang leaned forward again, this time brushing her lips against Light's in a shy, tentative kiss. Their lips parted a moment later but neither girl moved away. Lightning took the prolonged closeness as a signal to move in and bring their lips together again in another slow, albeit a bit less curious kiss. To show her approval, Fang reached out to gently cup the side of Lightning's jaw, right under her ear, to bring her in closer as she pressed her lips more firmly against Light's in their next kiss.

They continued on that pattern. Each time their lips slid away from each other, someone would lean forward in order to capture the other's lips again in a new kiss.

"Whoa, hey…" Lightning finally breathed, pulling her head backwards and away from Fang after the girl had gripped the other side of Lightning's face to bring her in for an even deeper lip lock.

"Heh, sorry," Fang embarrassedly apologized, rubbing at her lower lip with her pointer finger and thumb. "Got a little carried away there. Ya know, pent up emotions and all just flyin' right outta there."

"It's… it's okay. Just took me by surprise." Lightning looked over her shoulder to her front door before ruefully turning back to Fang. "I should probably go in before my dad comes out, though."

"Yeah, I understand. Wouldn't wanna have to make out with him to prove another point."

Lightning's face crinkled disgustedly at that.

"What? It was a joke."

Lightning shook her head and grabbed Fang's hand to pull her closer for one final kiss. "Goodnight, Fang."

"Night, Light," Fang replied with an elated grin as Lightning's fingers pulled away from hers as she walked back to the front door. That elated grin would stay on Fang's face for the entire ride back to the reservation, just as the content smirk that Lightning wore as she walked up the path to her home would stay on her face until she fell asleep that night. So content was the pinkette that she didn't notice either pair eyes that had been spying on her activities with Fang from out of their respective windows.


	23. Chapter 23

"So you're not the least bit curious about whether you're going to get nominated for homecoming court or not?" Lebreau asked as she and Lightning walked the halls together on their way to their literature class.

"No," was Lightning's terse response.

"Not even a little? Because I'm pretty sure Jason is a shoe in for prince, him being one of the lead scorers on the team and all, and if you were to win and get paired with him after that little spat between you two at the party… Let's just say, I could see it being kinda awkward."

Lightning gave her an unperturbed look in reply.

"Okayyy. I guess you don't see that as a problem... Are you even planning on going to the—"

"Whoa!"

Lightning staggered backwards in surprise as something suddenly rammed into her shoulder. "Hey! Watch—"

She froze in mid-statement when her eyes lifted to meet the intent gaze of Fang staring down at her.

"—it."

"I'm sorry, Lightzinger," Fang apologized as two hands moved to steady her, one on her elbow and one on her upper arm. "Didn't see ya there. You alright?"

Lightning just raised her brows as she looked her aggressor in the face.

Fang didn't look apologetic at all. Her eyes were lit up way too much for Lightning to even consider it. If nothing else, it seemed as if she were masking a wide smile behind that faux concerned face of hers.

"Next time, can you just watch where you're going?" Light asked.

"Sure thing," Fang replied with a light smirk. "I think I can manage to keep an eye out for ya."

The hands that had previously been on her arm slowly slid away as Fang left to lope off down the hallway in the opposite direction of Light and Lebreau, looking back over her shoulder once, still smirking, before turning the bend in the hallway.

"So speaking of problems, looks like I'll have to change my name to 'The Problem Solver'," Lebreau said in wonder, clutching her books to her chest and looking away from the corner of the hall to watch Lightning expectantly. "I didn't think the stint between you two at the party did much, but I guess it worked well enough."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lightning had been watching Fang walk away too, but she had to quickly snap herself out of it in an attempt to validate her argument to Lebreau.

"Oh, you don't? Last person to bump you in the halls like left an imprint in a locker from how hard you tossed him for it, but Fang does it and all she has to do is 'watch it next time'?" Lebreau asked, making sure to use a dramatically flirtatious tone when mocking her friend. "Better yet, here's someone who probably knows what's going on. Serah! Hey, Serah! Over here!"

"What?" Lightning's head flew in the direction that Lebreau was waving in. Sure enough, her confused little sister was standing with a group of friends at a locker not too far away. "Why do you have to call her into this?"

"Oh, hush! Serah! Heyyyyy, girlfriend," Lebreau congenially greeted when Serah apprehensively approached, shooting a jumpy side eye from Lightning to Lebreau.

"Hey, guys... What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just the same old same. Or not really," Lebreau quickly conversed before diving in for the kill. "Have you noticed anything weird going on with your sister lately?"

"Huh?" Serah's eyes grew to enormous proportions as she looked quickly to Light before turning back to Lebreau again. "Different? No! Nothing's different. Why would you think something's different? She's totally normal! Not different at all. Why are you asking me in the first place? I know nothing!"

Both Lightning and Lebreau stared at Serah with dumbfounded expressions.

"I've gotta go." Serah didn't wait for a response before immediately taking off into a quick stride down the hallway, not even bothering to return to her group of friends at the locker.

"Weird," Lebreau stated, staring off after the younger Farron with a still puzzled expression on her face.

"Yeah. Weird…" Lightning quietly agreed, although there was a bit more concern in her eyes as she watched her sister quickly escape down the hallway.

Despite her failed attempt at a double team, Lebreau continued to badger Lightning about Fang until they entered their classroom, just as the bell rang, where she came to an abrupt halt in the doorway. "Speaking of things being off today, what in the hell is this?" she asked.

The layout of the room was completely different from its normal configuration. Instead of the desks being lined up in neat rows, they were bunched into groups of fours.

"Language, please!" their teacher called, looking up from where she leant over her desk to rifle through a stack of papers. "And don't tell me you forgot! Today's our writing workshop day! After the less than impressive class average from the last round of book reports, I thought that this would do the class some good for your papers due next week. I've even invited an upperclassman to come in to proofread and give writing tips. So please, take your seats so we can get started."

Lightning and Lebreau were fortunately able to find a group of desks with two free seats and sat together there.

"Sheesh," Lebreau whispered, leaning back in her chair to spy who was in sitting in each group. "I haven't had to sit at desks like this since kindergarten."

"And here he is! Our temporary classroom helper for the day!"

Lightning turned in her seat to look at the door and her eyebrow instinctively arched in surprise on seeing the young Hope Estheim walk into the room.

"Upperclassman?" she could hear Lebreau harshly whispering across from her. "Now this is just demeaning…"

Hope quietly walked to the front of the room to stand at their smiling teacher's side.

"Now I don't want any of you to doubt our editor's knowledge because of his age, you hear me? Mr. Estheim was the only student in this class to ever get a perfect score on every assignment he handed in, as oppose to some of you who seem to struggle with even the simplest rules of capitalization. There's a lot you can learn from him. Better yet, Hope, why don't you start off by giving the class some advice on how to approach their papers before we break off independently?"

"Huh?" Hope looked to be blindsided by the request. Surely, he had expected to have a few one-on-ones with the older students about their papers, but he hadn't exactly been prepared to make a speech to the entire class.

"Go ahead," the teacher encouraged, nudging him forward a bit before taking a few steps to the side so that he was the only person standing in the front.

"Oh… Okay. Uh…" Hope's eyes anxiously scanned over the crowd until they landed on a familiar face, Lightning's. Lightning tried to put on an encouraging face as well, letting the edge of her lip slightly curl up into a partial, faint smile and nodding her head down as if to tell him, 'Keep going.'

"O-okay. Well," Hope began uneasily, only letting his eyes stray for a second to scan over the rest of the more disinterested faces in the class before training them back to Lightning, "The important thing to do is to, uh, pick a good subject matter. You… you don't want it to be too broad or too narrow. For instance…"

Hope turned to the board to scribble down BROAD and NARROW and write certain example topics under each word (some of them eliciting groans from those who had actually picked such topics), explaining what their downfalls were and how to turn them into more suitable topics.

"…and that's probably the most difficult part of the whole assignment," Hope began to wrap up. By now, he had found his little comfort zone in the speech and wasn't stuttering or using fillers anymore, and when he looked back at Lightning, there was an excited smile on his face.

Without even forcing it, Lightning could feel her own lips stretch into an impressed grin. She even wondered if it would be too Fang-ish for her to give him a proud wink for what he did. If not too Fang-ish, it might definitely be thought of as creepy… Lightning turned to peep across her desk at Lebreau. The girl seemed to have mind-reading powers when it came to figuring out when Lightning might be thinking about Fang, and she wanted to make sure she wasn't currently being watched now.

"I guess if you have any other questions, you could just ask— ….."

"Mr. Estheim?"

Lightning turned to face Hope again. She barely noticed that he had suddenly stopped in the middle of his closing until their teacher called his name. Hope was still standing at the front of the room, looking out at the class of older students, but something was different.

Lightning uncomfortably shifted in her chair and leaned forward, the faint smile that was on her face slowly fading away as she eyed her young neighbor. He stood with his mouth slightly agape. He was still looking in Lightning's direction, but he wasn't looking at her. He didn't seem to be looking at anything at all. If nothing else, his eyes seemed to be vacant.

"He picks the perfect time to zone out, huh?" Lebreau whispered from across the desk, but Lightning ignored it. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as her body continued to inch forward, almost to the point where she was nearly standing up from her desk already.

"Mr. Estheim!"

Most of the class gasped as Hope's pupils suddenly disappeared before his body tumbled to the ground.

"Hope!"

Within the blink of an eye, Lightning was kneeling at Hope's side.

"Ms. Farron, move out the way and get back to your seat—"

"Aghhhh!" Hope shot up, taking in loud, gasps of air. His small chest heaved in excitement as he frantically looked around.

"Hope, are you—" Lightning tried to begin but was ripped away from the boy as the teacher knelt down beside him instead.

"Mr. Estheim, are you feeling alright?"

Hope twisted his head around to look back and forth with an frightened expression on his face. His eyes jumped from Lightning to the teacher as he wordlessly tried to surmise where he was and what had just happened. "I-I'm fine…" he finally choked out in a strained voice.

"Oh, thank the heavens," the teacher breathed. "Sometimes the stress of speech making and the heat can make people go faint, especially if they have a bit of stage fright. Don't worry about the proofreading. You should go to the nurse's office and fill out an accident report, okay?"

"I'll take him," Lightning immediately volunteered. She hadn't moved an inch from the spot where she had been pulled back.

The teacher looked over her shoulder to give her student a reproachful glare. "You think that I'd let you out of this classroom after that little outbur—"

"I'd like Lightning to take me," Hope spoke up, planting his hands to the floor to pull himself up into a better sitting position. The teacher looked back at him with a mildly surprised look on her face. "She's my babysitter. She knows a lot about my medical history… Please?"

* * *

"Lightning!"

Snow's feet wildly skittered beneath him as he slid around the bend of the hallway and almost into a wall of lockers. Lightning just stared at him with an aggravated expression as he regained control of himself before continuing to run down the hallway in her direction. "I got a bathroom pass as soon as I got your message," he breathed heavily as he slowed to a stop in front of the nurse's office, right next to Lightning. "What happened?"

"He had a vision at the front of class."

Snow's eyes bulged. "What? Just now? Like that?"

Lightning gravely nodded as Snow reached up to interlock his hands above his head. "Fuuucccckkkkk…"

"Guys!"

Lightning and Snow both turned around to see Vanille rushing their way down the hall.

"Is something wrong?"

Lightning opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Fang's voice calling from behind her.

"Aye? Why are we meeting at the nurse's office? Light, are you alright?"

Lightning looked over her shoulder to catch Fang worriedly scanning over her body with her eyes. "No—I mean yes." Lightning reached out to grab Fang's wrist, hoping it would be an assuring enough gesture, especially with the other l'Cie standing around, to let the other girl know she was okay. "It's not me. It's Hope," she said, releasing Fang's wrist when those worried green eyes finally rose to meet hers.

"I—" she turned to look back at Snow and Vanille, "I shouldn't have called you all out of class like that. We shouldn't even be talking about this here. It's just… We can't keep sitting around like this waiting for some sign to just drop into our laps, telling us what to do."

"Light…" Fang murmured from behind, but Lightning just brushed her off.

"It's obvious that we're not getting any of the help we've been expecting, so what are we doing? Besides just waiting to see what'll happen as this thing strings us further along?"

"Well…" Snow rubbed the back of his neck as he thought of something to say. "We have been training."

"But for what?" Lightning asked, trying to keep her voice down. "To sit in a classroom? And even that's not working out for us." She angrily looked to the closed door of the nurse's office as she said this.

"Lightning, there hasn't been an encounter like ours in years. It's not like there's just some simple answer on how to go about solving this," Vanille said quietly.

"I thought there was," Light ground back, a firm look to her eyes as she glanced over Snow and Vanille's faces. "And we saw it when we were at Opie's house."

Vanille let out a soft gasp and Snow looked to the ground.

"Look, we shouldn't be talking about this here," Lightning sighed, rubbing her forehead. She had been a bit worked up, but seeing such shock on her comrades' faces, Vanille's especially, did make her feel a bit guilty at how hard she was grinding them. "I'll wait here for Hope and you guys get back to class. We'll meet at the bleachers after school, got it? This gets figured out today."

"We can all stay and wait for Hope—"

"No," Lightning cut Snow off in the middle of his offer. "It'll be suspicious if all of us are out here for too long together. Go back to class. I'll wait. By myself."

"Okay, neighbor…" Snow unsurely mumbled as he slowly turned to make his way back down the hall.

Vanille hesitantly looked behind Lightning to Fang, who was staring at Lightning with a troubled expression on her face. She looked up when she felt Vanille's eyes on her, and nodded her head forward to signal the younger girl to go back to class. Vanille cast one last worried look at Lightning before sagging her shoulders and doing as she was silently told.

Fang watched Vanille go, waiting until she was a good deal down the hall before taking a few steps closer to Lightning. "Light, I know you're emotional right now, but—"

"Are you for real right now?" Lightning hissed, quickly rounding on Fang.

"Okay, okay. Bad choice of words." Fang lifted her hands and took a cautious step backwards. "I understand. I'm worried about the little guy, too. But don't ya think you might be jumping on the warhorse a bit too quickly, here?"

"No. I don't. And as gung-ho as you were when we first got these things, I thought you'd be a bit more supportive of moving forward instead of sitting around scouring newspapers looking for a Godzilla sized Easter egg!"

Fang sighed. Lightning did have a point. She had been the group's biggest proponent of hurrying up to figure out how to deal with their focus up until their visit to Opie's cabin… "Light, I… I might have something to tell ya. Something important. It's about—well…"

Lightning tightly crossed her arms and looked to Fang expectantly.

"Um, how about this?" Fang said quickly, nearly ramming all of her words together as she spoke. "If I told ya that when this all began, something happened and I started to feel, I dunno… heavier—No, no, that doesn't make sense."

Lightning's brows furrowed as she continued to watch Fang.

"What I mean to say is that sometimes when something bad happens, or if I start to feel down n' out about something, it's like I go to this dark place, and when I'm there, something else takes the wheel for awhile. Ugh… it still doesn't make any sense when I say it like that. I guess, what I'm flat out trying to say is…" Fang paused for a moment before lifting her eyes to seriously stare Lightning in the face. "Light, if I told ya something about me, something really bad, would you—I mean, do ya think all of you… You think we could work through anything, don't ya?"

Lightning looked to Fang with a mystified stare before taking a deep breath and relaxing her shoulders. "Fang…" she tiredly sighed. "Is this really the time?"

"It's really import—"

"Look." Lightning quickly scanned the hallway to make sure it was completely empty before taking a step closer to Fang and gently placing her hands on her arms. "If this is something about us, we can talk about it later. Right now, we've got other problems to worry about."

"But it's—"

The sound of a locker clanging somewhere around the bend of the hallway's corner made both girls jump. Lightning quickly moved away from Fang and brought her hands back to her sides before warily peering over her shoulder to make sure that the hall was still clear. "Fang." This time she spoke in a much lower voice. "I'm going to wait for Hope. You should go back to class."

Fang let out a heavy breath and ran a hand through her hair. "I just… okay. Are ya sure you don't want any company?"

Lightning quickly glanced over her shoulder in the direction that the clanging sound had come from before returning her attention to Fang. The look on her face said it all.

"Got it," Fang answered, glumly nodding before turning to head back to class.

When she reached the door to the stairwell, she turned back to get one more look at the pinkette. She had taken a seat on the floor, leaning her back against the wall of lockers and twiddling her fingers while waiting for the nurse's door to open.

Fang silently shook her head, scolding herself in her thoughts, before pushing the door open.

* * *

"But it's great to see you're alright!" Vanille cheered as she hugged Hope from behind.

The group had convened outside on the bleachers, where they had held their first l'Cie meeting, to talk business, although the first few minutes had been spent with everyone fawning over Hope and making comments about how happy they were to see him conscious.

"The nurse thought I was just dehydrated and really afraid of public speaking," Hope said sheepishly as Vanille released her grip around his neck to sit on the bleacher behind his. "She wouldn't let me out of her office until I had like three bottles of Cactuarade. I spent most of my next period in the bathroom."

Snow chuckled and lightly slapped Hope on the back as Lightning stood to face everyone on the bleachers. "We're all glad you're fine, Hope, but I think everyone's missing the big point here. At first, our visions were only coming to us in our dreams. Not only have our brands progressed, but this is the second time someone has had their visions take over in the middle of the day while they were fully conscious."

"The second time?" Snow asked. "When was the first?"

"Fang had a vision after she stormed off at the track meet."

"You did?" Vanille's head swerved around to look at Fang in surprise.

"Hey!" Fang jumped before sending Lightning an accusatory look.

"Fang, this is getting serious," Lightning explained. "We can't hide these types of things from each other anymore. Back at Opie's we all saw that the fal'Cie wants us to be in the Primarch's chambers with that monster, so what if us getting more aggressive visions is some sort of sign?"

"Hm?" Vanille peeled her scolding eyes away from Fang to look at Lightning curiously. "What kind of sign?"

"A sign that maybe Ragnarok has already been chosen and is making his way to Eden."

"What…" Vanille's mouth dropped open as she stared at Lightning incredulously. She turned to look at Fang who was also staring at the girl with a less surprised, but equally disturbed look on her face.

"Think about it," Lightning continued. "What better way to try and force us to get a move on? And just because no one else has spotted it doesn't mean it can't be on the loose somewhere else. There's a bunch of underground tunnels and uninhabited land all across Cocoon. Look at the reservation, for example. So we need to get to Eden to stop it, and we need to do it fast."

"Light, I don't think—" Fang tried to begin.

"I guess that could make sense," Snow cut in, rubbing his chin. "And you think we're ready to just go and chase down some monster?"

"Do we have a choice?" Lightning returned.

"Seriously, guys, can ya just pump the brakes for one second on the—"

"If you think Ragnarok's already on the way to Eden, do you think we should tip off PSICOM about it?" Hope asked. "Nothing specific, but just to warn them that something big might be heading to their area and they might want to beef up on security? Or keep an eye out?"

"No, they'd easily be able to trace the call and that'd put all of us under heavy investigation. But I know where my dad keeps a few of his weapons if we need to bring them."

"Weapons?" Vanille silently peeped.

"Alright, guess this has gone on long enough. Guys, we need to tell ya something," Fang sighed, despite the even more worried look that Vanille was now giving her.

"Fang?"

"Vanille, it's time."

"But what about your parents?" Snow asked, looking to Lightning and Hope. "I know me, Fang, and Vanille could get away with it, but I'm sure the two of you aren't allowed to road trip it to Eden whenever you like. How would we even get there?"

"Well, so that we don't get stopped by authorities or leave a trail, I was thinking you could drive," Lightning offered. "We might have to use a different car, but we could figure that all out."

"Drive to Eden?" Snow asked, raising his eyebrows. "That's at least a two day trip!"

"We can stop in Palumpolum," Hope offered, turning optimistically to Snow. "My family owns a house out there that we only use for reunions and stuff. I could swipe the key and we could spend the night there. If I convince my parents that I'm spending the night at someone else's house to study for one of those Academy standardized tests, we should be in Eden by the time they get suspicious enough to even check there."

"Sounds perfect," Lightning said, feeling quite accomplished at how quickly a plan was actually being thrown together. "The only thing left would be to figure out a way to scour the area and catch Ragnarok before he does too much damage."

"That won't be necessary," Fang quietly responded, finally tearing her eyes away from Vanille to look to Lightning, but the pinkette didn't hear her.

"We could establish a beat or maybe see if Maqui has some type of high tech equipment that might be useful for tracking—"

"GUYS!" Fang finally shouted, fed up with being ignored.

Lightning, Snow, and Hope paused to stare at Fang, all eyeing her as if she had gone crazy.

"I mean, guys," Fang started again, allowing herself to settle for a moment before continuing on. "We don't need to go through all of that… We know who Ragnarok is."

"What?" Hope breathed.

Lightning narrowed her eyes disbelievingly at the girl. "You've got to be kidding. Suddenly you know who Ragnarok is? And you'd just sit on this information while he runs around trying to rip Cocoon a new one?"

"Well, it's not like that," Fang defended, lifting a hand to her head and leaving it there to scratch at her scalp. "The fal'Cie didn't just decide, 'Hey you, be Ragnarok' and automatically create a huge, demolition machine right then and there. It's a transformation. Ragnarok is human right now, but can trigger into the monster if provoked."

"And you know who this human is?" Lightning asked. She could feel her body heating up with anger at thinking Fang knew the biggest missing, and not to mention most dangerous, piece of this puzzle but had refused to tell any of them about it.

"Yeah. I do." Fang's eyes lifted to scan over the Cocoonians' faces guiltily. "Me and Van figured it out when we saw the vision at Opie's and he talked about the fal'Cie's picking standards."

"Then who is it?" Lightning asked, although she had a feeling that she already knew who it was. Of Gran Pulsian blood. Hates Cocoon. Easily provoked. Probably a total prick. She'd bet all her money that it was that Dane guy who they kept running into.

Fang glanced over to Vanille and gave the smaller girl and comforting nod before looking back to the rest of the group. "It's us."

Lightning felt her face suddenly drop in shock. She had been so prepared to hear something else, that if Fang had said any word that began with the letter 'D', she would've heard the name Dane instead. But what had come out of her mouth was so unexpected, there was no way she could've interpreted it as anything else.

"Come again?"

"It's us," Fang repeated, turning to look at Vanille who sadly nodded along. "Me and Van are Ragnarok. The two of us were chosen, and if one of us goes off the deep end, we'll somehow combine to turn into, well… it."

Lightning just stared dumbly at the two. That couldn't be true. They all had the same focus. They all had the same brands. The two of them didn't seem at all 'monster-ish'. They were all… friends.

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought we all had the same focus," Snow said, thinking the exact same thing as Lightning.

"We don't," Vanille answered softly. "We never did. Me and Fang didn't even understand why ours was different until we met Opie. Then it all made sense."

"So it's just more things you've been lying to us about…" Lightning murmured, looking down to the bleachers. Her whole body felt numb, almost as if it were unwilling to even attempt to react to the situation at hand. She couldn't even bring herself to look up at either of them at this point.

"It wasn't exactly lying," she could hear Vanille trying to explain. "We just didn't think—"

"That it was important enough to tell us?!" Lightning exclaimed. "That the two of you are supposed to destroy the world and, oh, we were all turned by the same fal'Cie! Which means we're supposed to help! What didn't you think, Vanille?" Lightning could feel her chest and arms finally begin to tingle as she shouted at the girl. She knew that some of her energy was beginning to gather at her fingertips, but she was so upset that she couldn't even tell which kind.

"Light, we didn't mean any harm. Ya don't have to yell at her like that."

"Don't even get me started on you," Lightning growled. She turned to fiercely glare at Fang. "You had the nerve to make me feel guilty about something that wasn't even your business in the first place, when all this time you were hiding this from everyone?! After all the talks we've had about how things would be when this was over and even last night after we—Grrr!" Lightning bit her tongue and took a heavy breath before she let slip anything else personal in front of the rest of the group. "You still didn't think this was something you should've told me? Fuck you, Fang."

"Light, I'm sorry…" Fang stood up and made an attempt to step down a bleacher but even those innocent movements set Lightning's anger ablaze even more. Both of her hands now violently tingled as a strong electric current coursed through them.

"No! Get away from me!"

Purely driven by anger, Lightning reached out one of her supercharged hands to slam her palm dead into Fang's upper chest.

"WRAHHHHH!" Fang wailed as her body broke out into mini spasms and the shock sent her flying back into the bleachers.

"Fang!" Vanille jumped up, but Lightning quickly lifted her other hand to point directly at her face, a sign for her not to come any closer.

Lightning stepped up the bleachers so that she was hovering over Fang, who had flown back so forcefully that she was now lying in a dent that her own body had created in the metal seat. Light lifted her hand again so that it was nearly touching Fang's still convulsing chest. "So you're telling me that if I wanted to, I could save Cocoon, my family, my entire world… right here, right now in these very bleachers?"

Fang tried to brace herself in a futile attempt to stop her body from continuously bursting into shakes. She stared at Light's lit up hand before looking into her angry, blue eyes. "Ye-ye-yeah," she finally stammered out between the shaking, never breaking eye contact and not even trying to put up a fight.

"Lightning…" Snow rumbled in a low voice, standing up and summoning his own magic to pool into his hands. He wasn't sure what was going through his neighbor's mind, but she had definitely taken things too far. His magic wasn't as potent as Light's, but he knew he had more endurance and might be able to withstand her long enough to tire her out if it did come down to a fight.

Lightning stared hard at Fang, who just looked back up at her with that same tense and unwavering expression. Although the moment was a short one, it still felt like a small eternity for Light. She quickly pulled her hands back to her side and stepped down another bleacher. "Fuck you, Fang," she mumbled again before dropping down to sit on a lower bleacher, placing her head in her hands with her back facing the rest of the group.

Everyone else remained quiet as Vanille immediately jumped forward, hands already green with a healing spell, to place on Fang's stomach and chest. Fang breathed a loud sigh of relief before slowly shifting to sit up.

"We can't go to Eden."

"Hm?" Fang, along with most of the other l'Cie looked up to face Hope, who had suddenly broken the silence between them all. His eyes were glassy and his face looked past forlorn, but there was a strong, resolute tone to his voice that was something usually uncommon to hear when the younger boy spoke.

"The fal'Cie wants us to go to Eden. You don't have to be in a specific place to destroy the world, but there has to be a reason why our vision is so specific, right? Maybe there's something else we're missing… another clue that requires us to meet the Primarch to figure out. Maybe the fal'Cie doesn't even want Fang and Vanille to change until we get there."

"Sorry, kiddo," Fang groaned, her back and sides still hurting from the crash. "But it doesn't exactly work that way. Ragnarok is triggered by anger. If one of us gets too pissed, that's what'll cause the change."

"But you've been angry before haven't you? You looked pretty angry at the track meet. Why haven't you changed yet? Maybe you're not supposed to fully transform until we get to Eden."

Fang turned to look at Lightning's back, which was rapidly lifting up and down with each seething breath she took, before dejectedly leaning back into her bleacher-crater and looking towards Hope again. "So what are ya tryna get at?"

Hope took a deep breath and looked over everyone else's faces. "Well, if there's a small chance that by not going to Eden you might not change, then we should take it. It's a long-shot, but it could save the world."

"Opie said that a focus has a way of catching up with ya," Fang stated. "And none of us are entirely sure what'll happen if we don't fulfill it."

"But we do know what'll happen if we do," Hope replied with a sad shrug. "And we could do stuff here to make sure you don't get too angry. We could be like your buffers. Maybe even use the time to try and figure out a loophole, or something. Everything has a loophole, right? I… I don't know how you guys feel, but you're my best friends. I'm closer to you all than I am with most of my family, even my dad." Lightning finally turned her head slightly towards Hope at this point in his speech. "I don't just want to save Cocoon. I want to save you guys, too."

A tiny, wry smile pulled at Fang's lips at the confession and Vanille reached out to squeeze her best friend's shoulder, a more hopeful look on her face than her older companion's.

"He's kinda right," Snow agreed, looking encouragingly to Fang and Vanille. "We're all like one big family over here. And I guess you two are like the rowdy, drunk uncles that everyone has to keep away from the liquor cabinet before they start flashing everybody."

"We're not that kind of family," Lightning cut in, grabbing almost everyone by surprise. "But I guess we are one, nonetheless. And it's not like we have better options, anyway. If you all are willing to ride this thing out until the end, then I guess so am I. It's for the good of Cocoon."

"I knew you were a team player," Snow tried to joke, despite the dark mood that had settled between the group as they all slowly realized how long of a shot their idea actually was.

"Hmph." Lightning stood up and began her march down the steps, not even sparing a look back at her fellow l'Cie as she descended and disappeared behind the bleachers.

Fang felt a tidal wave of guilt wash over her as she watched the pinkette leave. It was a very small comfort getting the Ragnarok secret off of her chest, but now she wasn't sure if it was worth the cost… everyone's hope. And worse still, Opie's words continued to ring between her ears.

"You can try ignoring your focus… but you won't."


	24. Chapter 24

Lightning stared at herself in the mirror as she changed into her workout clothes. A cold, sinking feeling spread throughout the pit of her stomach as her eyes landed on the skin above her breast. Her brand had been progressing much quicker than usual over the past few days. The marking had spouted a few more arrows and was now darker and more prominent in color. It was as if the fal'Cie had heard about their plan of rebellion and was trying to make a statement. "Saving the world… saving the world… saving the world…" she quietly repeated under her breath as she pulled a sports bra over her head.

Ever since the meeting that she and the rest of the l'Cie crew had had in the bleachers, she seemed to need more and more encouraging to convince herself not to spill the beans to her father about everything that had befallen them. As frightened as she was, she kept trying to tell herself that there were more important things to keep in mind, like the fate of the planet.

Telling her dad about the l'Cie issue meant telling him about Fang and Vanille. Although it was still unclear to her what her own place in the fal'Cie's master plan might be, at least one piece of the puzzle was clear: Fang and Vanille were supposed to destroy their world. And from what they had been told, the key to unleashing the destructive monster, Ragnarok, was to make one of them extremely angry. If her father found out that Fang and Vanille were such dangerous l'Cie, she had a feeling that the reservation would be swarming with PSICOM soldiers within the hour, which could push Fang into an angry rage… possibly leading to the destruction of the world. That, or she could be caught and tranquilized, and probably be brought before the Primarch in Eden, where the fal'Cie might've been wanting her to go in the first place… possibly leading to the destruction of the world. Or her father could order the simplest solution, which would be to send in a hitman to quickly and quietly dispose of both Fang and Vanille before they even knew what hit them…

Lightning paused as she thought over that scenario. It wouldn't lead to the destruction of the world, but it wasn't an option.

DINGDONG!

Light looked over her shoulder to the closed bathroom door. The group was supposed to go to the practice field today to do some drills and exercises. The Cocoonians' regimen was more or less the same. They continued to train as they usually did, trying to push themselves to new limits and figure out the best ways to use their powers if they had to in combat. Fang and Vanille's training, however, had shifted to be less combative and more peaceful, aimed less at learning the different ways for them to use their powers and aimed more at just knowing how to control them and keep them at bay.

She pulled on her shirt and left the bathroom to look for her shoes, sure that Serah would answer the door for her.

* * *

Fang leaned idly against the island in the kitchen as she silently waited for Lightning to come downstairs. Serah had answered the door but felt no need to entertain the houseguest because she immediately ran up the stairs, stating that Lightning would be down in a minute, right afterwards. Fang couldn't tell if the younger Farron was actually busy or if she was just looking for an excuse to get away from her. Fang doubted that Lightning had told Serah about the whole 'Ragnarok and destroyers of Cocoon' thing, but even without that, it was obvious that the younger teen was really skittish around her.

Fang huffed as she thought about it. Funnily enough, Serah wasn't the Farron who she had been having the most awkward moments with lately.

Fang had initially thought that things might become a bit easier after confessing the Ragnarok secret, but instead, everything seemed to go downhill the second after she had uttered the words, "It's us."

It felt as if the whole group dynamic had changed in that exact moment. It had stopped being all-for-one and one-for-all, and had instead turned into a Ragnarok babysitting company. Her schedules were planned out days in advance, and they involved her and Vanille being surrounded by at least two other group members most of the time.

And of everyone in the group, the relationship between her and Lightning had changed the most. She was somewhat already used to being glared at and disregarded by the elder Farron, but now things had gotten even worse. Lightning had begun to ice her out completely. Even though they were technically around each other every day, they rarely, if ever, interacted with one another. They never stood next to each other. They barely spoke. And whenever Fang did catch Lightning looking her way, she would be met with a cold, distant gaze. She thought it could be easily surmised that of course a relationship would change after an argument that leads to your maybe-almost-girlfriend pinning you down to a metal bench and threatening to shock the life out of you, but that wasn't exactly it. When Lightning looked at her the way she did, it wasn't the look of seeing a monster… It was more of a look of betrayal, and Fang immediately missed the aggravated glares she used to get instead.

Fang wanted to get a chance to talk things over with Lightning, maybe get a chance to try and explain herself, but it was hard because alone time was now considered a rare commodity, and the conversation seemed too important a subject to call her over the phone to talk about. That's why she offered, or volunteered and rushed out of Snow's house before she could be followed, to walk across the street to get Lightning in the first place. That's also why she didn't mind Serah avoiding her as if she had the plague. It just meant a better chance for her and Lightning to be alone to talk. She figured there was little point in even trying to pursue a relationship anymore, but at least she could try to clear the air between them.

Fang's head lifted as she heard the door to the front of the house open. "So much for being alone…" she mumbled to herself, thinking that it was probably Hope or Vanille following her over to see what was taking so long.

Instead, Colonel Farron's tall frame filled the kitchen doorway, and Fang couldn't even pretend to be surprised.

"Afternoon, Mr. Farron," she said casually, not in any particular way moved by the man's arrival. After the week she had been having, she'd been finding it harder and harder to really be bothered about much anymore. "You're home early."

"Yun Fang," the colonel returned, looking around the kitchen curiously before turning to look to the stairs. "You're here by yourself?"

"Serah let me in but I'm not sure if Lightning knows I'm down here. We're supposed to train today."

"I know," Farron said, nodding. He looked to the stairs one more time before looking judiciously back down at Fang, almost as if he were examining her for something. "Well, while you wait, it would only be polite that I keep you company. It's not like we ever finished our last conversation, anyway."

"Sure."

"So I've been seeing more evidence of you being in my house lately," the colonel began, stepping up to the opposite side of the island.

Fang just lifted a tired eyebrow. He was right, in a way. It was the evidence of all of the l'Cie being in his house. Almost every evening, they came together at Lightning's to watch movies because between her and Snow, her place had the better selection. It was all just another way for the rest of the group to keep tags on Fang and Vanille as much as they possibly could.

"I take it that means that you and Claire have been getting closer."

"You could say that," Fang replied with a shrug. "It's starting to feel more like a convenience than anything else. …for training," Fang tacked on that last bit to answer the questioning look that Farron had thrown her way.

"Then I also take it that sparring with Claire must be a bit tougher than you expected," Farron mused, now leaning against the island just as Fang was, lifting one of his hands to slip into his jacket's breast pocket.

Fang followed his hand for only a brief moment before shrugging it off and looking back to her own hands that were clasping each other on the island. "Well, ya raised her to be a tough sparrer."

"I also raised her to spar against boys—"

Fang's eyes lifted to stare at Farron.

"—so you can't blame all of your training problems on me. I'm not even sure how the two of you have stayed sparring partners for so long with such different fighting styles. I'm sure there are more fitting partners for you out there. Ones that won't get hurt if they're caught off guard by your... differing techniques."

"I thought about it." Fang looked down to Farron's breast pocket again. He was definitely twirling something between his fingers in there, but once again she decided to pay the action no mind. "Circumstance more than anything else pulled us together," she sighed thoughtlessly, running a hand through her hair. The hand in Farron's pocket stilled and he switched his gaze, which previously seemed to be on Fang's wrist, to look over her face. "She probably would've ditched me long ago if she could've and I still can't think of a person I'd rather spar with." Fang pulled her hand from her hair and let out another deep breath as she once again realized that she was talking to Lightning's father. "I, uh, well… There's slim pickin' for people capable enough to handle sparring with your daughter, sir."

Farron just eyed Fang calculatingly. "I guess that just makes me lucky that she was able to find you, doesn't it?" he finally asked in an icy tone, pulling his hand out of his pocket and folding it with his other against the island counter.

Fang's eyebrows scrunched curiously. She wasn't sure when the conversation had taken a hostile turn, but once again she wasn't sure if she should be surprised. It was Colonel Farron who she was speaking to.

"Fang?" a soft voice spoke from the opposite side of the kitchen.

Both Fang and Farron looked up to see Lightning standing at the other side of the room with her gym bag slung over her shoulder. Neither had heard her enter.

"And Dad… you're home."

"For the time being," Farron answered, standing up and stepping away from the island. "There are some files from my study that I need to pick up. I see that you'll be out training today."

"Just like my schedule says." Lightning stepped further into the kitchen, occasionally glancing Fang's way as she got closer.

"Yes, well make sure you're home early. There's a new street cleaning initiative starting tonight that I don't want you to get caught in the middle of. So remember that old curfew that you had a year ago?"

Lightning nodded.

"It's back in effect."

"Yes, sir." Lightning turned to Fang and nodded towards the door. "Ready?"

"Yep." Fang quickly stepped around the island, giving Colonel Farron a short wave before following his daughter out of the house. Farron just took a slow, deep breath as he begrudgingly watched the two leave.

"I didn't expect you to be the one to get me," Lightning said quietly as they walked across the asphalt towards Snow's home. "Usually Hope comes over."

"Yeah, well I was given enough leeway where I'm allowed to cross streets by myself now," Fang lightly replied. "Who knows. By this time next week, I might be able to play with rounded scissors."

Lightning softly snorted in a chuckle, causing a small grin to tug at the corner of Fang's lips. "Listen, Light, I know we haven't—"

"There you are!" Snow called as he stepped out of his house ans looked across the sea of pavement. "It feels like we've been waiting all day! C'mon!"

Fang mumbled a Pulsian curse word under her breath as she and Lightning finished their walk across the street in silence.

There was never any privacy.

* * *

"So Lightning, what would you say if I said that I've got a proposition for you but I know you're going to refuse it?" Snow asked as he and Light stood by his car sipping from their water bottles.

Lightning gave Snow a dull look and took a long swallow. "I'd say that you answered your own question."

"Okay." Snow took a short moment to think of something new to ask. "Then what would you say if you could say something different than what you just said?"

Lightning now arched a jaded eyebrow at the blonde. "What is it, Snow?"

"The return of Superhero Night!"

"No."

"C'mon! It's been dead with me doing it all by myself," he groaned. "And it's not just for me. It's for Fang, too."

"What?"

"Lightning, just look at her. She's miserable."

Lightning turned to the center of the field where Fang and Vanille sat crossed legged in the grass, eyes closed and palms facing the sky in a spiritual exercise that Vanille claimed would help them gain more control over their bodies and souls while also relaxing the mind. As calm as their poses looked, sweat was visibly pouring down Fang's neck, and her face was scrunched up in an uncomfortable expression.

"Snow, you heard what they said. They're Ragnarok and she's the trigger to setting them both off. She looks miserable now, and your solution is to put her in a position where some street thug can shout an angry racial slur at her and cause her to blow up all of Cocoon?"

"No," Snow refuted in a shocked tone, although he hadn't really thought of the possible consequences of someone pissing Fang off in the streets. "I was just thinking that the more miserable she gets, angry slur or not, the more likely she is to pop. I mean, I know we've got to keep her in safe situations, but she's Fang. Too safe isn't a safe situation."

Lightning hated to admit it, but Snow had a point. Both of the Gran Pulsian girls had displayed small annoyances at being constantly watched and babied by the others, but of the two, it seemed to be irritating Fang the most. Vanille had turned towards religion to offset whatever feelings of guilt, remorse, or aggravation that she had towards her situation and the conspicuously monitored group outings that had been planned for them each day. Lightning would often catch her standing with her head bowed and eyes closed, quietly whispering something to herself with her pointer and pinky fingers crossed; Lightning sometimes even found herself amazed, and somewhat bothered, at how quickly Vanille's expressions could shift from serious and introspective while saying one of her little prayers to bright and peppy when she thought someone was paying attention to her. She had even started bringing more spiritual exercises, such as the one she was doing right now, for her and Fang to work on, during their training sessions. Fang, however, didn't seem as if she had found anything to help take some of that guilt and angst off of her shoulders. Instead, she quietly stewed, usually standing around with her arms crossed, staring off into nothing with half-lidded and broody eyes. It was this that probably worried Snow enough to make him want to resurrect Superhero Night.

"Can you at least think of a more controlled situation?"

"It will be a controlled situation!" Snow exclaimed in reply. "Remember that little girl who was taking pictures of me nabbing those purse thieves? Turns out she wasn't taking pictures. She was recording! And now I'm a net sensation!"

"What?" Lightning's face dropped. "You're on the net using your powers?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. It looks pretty fake with the video quality, like the chairs have been visually effected and all, but still! I've got quite the following… and the fan club! I convinced Maqui to make me a radio to pick up this special frequency and spread a rumour online about how to get me to hear it. It's all small stuff, mostly used by little kids, like 'help me get my ball out the neighbor's yard' or things like that. We'll do small missions and get lots of praise. If nothing else, it should be a good ego booster for her."

Lightning stared at Snow judgmentally. "Oh, how Superhero Night has fallen…"

Snow returned by giving Lightning an unimpressed look and asking, "Are you going to agree to it or not?"

Lightning looked back to the center of the field where Fang was now leaning forward with her arms raised in a new stretch, her face looking as pained as ever.

"Okay," she relented, eliciting an excited whoop from Snow. "But only candy-coated errands, okay?"

"Gotcha!" Snow smiled victoriously. "And to make it even better, check this out." He turned to pop the trunk and reached in to pull out a scraggly looking cape and skinny black masks. "I got us costumes."

* * *

"Soooo…" Snow goaded, tapping Fang in the ribs with his elbow as the two of them walked through a dark alley between two restaurant buildings. "What'd you think of that? Cool, eh? Eh? Ehhh?"

"Yeah, yeah," Fang softly chuckled, lightly slapping away at Snow's intruding elbow. "It was cool… I guess. I never thought carrying six kids up a tree on my back would ever count as a superhero act though. One of 'em almost brought me down by yanking on the back of my mask too hard." Fang reached up to adjust said cloth mask that was wrapped around her head. "But I guess it was worth it for all the 'Thank ya, Miss Overbites' I got."

"And that's what we entered the game for," Snow replied with a smile. "Only way it could've been better was if Colonel Killjoy would stop being such a, well, killjoy…" Snow stopped walking as a dusty shroud of dirt and loose gravel rained down on him from above. "What? You're scaring our clients!"

Fang looked up to see Lightning's dark profile slowly sauntering along the roof of one of the buildings that she and Snow were walking between. She had been up there (on the roofs) nearly the entire night, following and supervising them from a distance. She almost seemed like a misplaced, ghostly shadow from the way the moon illuminated her silhouette and the skinny, red cape that flowed behind her as she walked across and hopped from rooftop to rooftop.

Fang lowered her head to look back down and pull at the sleeves that Snow had supplied for her costume. She kind of appreciated what the two were trying to do for her, but still, something about the whole situation didn't sit well with her. It was obvious that she had been demoted to now being a 'helping hand' for kids who weren't resourceful enough to solve their own problems around the city at night. It was even more unnerving to have Lightning following them around and observing them from up high, as if she were preparing herself to pounce at even the slightest hint that Fang might get out of line. Superhero Night wasn't much of crime ring bust to begin with, but this? This was borderline insulting.

"Incoming transmission!"

Fang shook her head to clear her thoughts, trying to remember that the other two were in fact trying to make her feel better about her situation with this whole Superhero Night farce. As she slowed to a stop, Snow brought the small radio up to his ear and played with the dial a bit. "Okay. So there's a small cat… stuck in a mid-sized tree… not sure I know this address."

"Will someone teach any of these goddamn kids how to climb?" Fang muttered, placing her hands on her hips.

"I think that corner is supposed be what, maybe four-five blocks that way?" Snow thought aloud. "I'll just use GPS. C'mon, Overbite! Duty awaits!"

Fang forced a small smile and fell into step behind Snow as he led the way, phone in hand, to their new destination.

Lightning let them get a head start before tailing them from her elevated vantage point. She couldn't tell exactly how well this whole 'feel good' stint was working from where she stood, but judging from Fang's slump-shouldered posture, she had a feeling that it wasn't having the fully intended effect, which in her mind, made sense. Superhero Night was a horrible idea even before it became rated G.

"And we make a right here…"

Lightning turned and took a few steps backwards to leap from the top of one building to the next. As they continued to travel, she turned her head to study her surroundings skeptically. The more they walked, the darker the area seemed to become.

She leaned to the side to cautiously peer over the roof's edge, down to where Fang and Snow were walking. Dull, yellow lights were sparsely stuck to the walls of each building, creating a murky glow that allowed Light to barely see the l'Cies' moving outlines.

She then brought her attention upwards again to look across the pebbled roof she was currently standing on. It stretched out far enough to the point where she couldn't even see the opposite edge, and a good ways ahead, a tall brick tower was shooting upwards out of the roof. Attached to the tower was a skinny, metal ladder and from the looks of it, the top seemed to be lined with barbed wire.

Lightning continued to walk, but kept her eyes on the brick, barbed wire tower ahead of her. It just seemed so peculiar. What type of building was this anyway?

Lightning moved to the edge of the roof once again to check on the other l'Cie below. The alley began to widen as the sides of the buildings started to slope further and further away from each other. It was now becoming even harder to see them because the low-powered lights, which were attached to the buildings' walls, were now being pulled further and further away as well. It didn't help that the black asphalt the two were walking on seemed to be absorbing the dull light rather than illuminating it…

Lightning slowed to a stop.

"Hey, guys," she called over the side of the building. "Captain Snowman, or whatever…"

"Whoa! You got my name right!"

Lightning looked back down the alley, towards the direction that Fang and Snow had walked from. It was a single, narrow pathway. No turnoffs or new entrances. She could take this moment to argue with Snow about the ignorance of the whole superhero name thing, but deep down she could feel that something else was totally off.

"How much further do we have to walk?"

"Excited, huh?" she heard Snow chuckle up. "Shouldn't be much longer. GPS has us reaching our destination in less than a minute."

Lightning turned her head to try and scope further down the direction that Snow and Fang were walking, but it was too dark for her to see anything. There was one thing she was certain of, though. With so much relatively new asphalt and an alley surrounded by two buildings big enough to block out most of the sunlight, they wouldn't be able to find a mid-sized tree growing anywhere within less than a minute's walking distance.

"Guys, we should turn—"

"Voila! We're here! I think."

Lightning leaned forward and squinted her eyes to look down into the alley, where she was now only able to vaguely see the tops of Fang and Snow's heads.

"What's down there?" she asked curiously.

"Nothin'," Fang drawled. "Just a dead end and a buncha scrap metal. I think we got punk'd."

Lightning continued to lean forward over the roof, resting her weight on one of her knees. "We should get out of here. Something about this place rubs me the wrong way," she called back down, stepping away from the roof's edge.

"Yeah, I agree. Maybe even call it a night," Snow returned. "I'm thinking pick up Hope and Vanille, then head to mine to catch a movie? Or maybe—huh?"

Lightning turned her head to stare at the roof's edge again.

"Fan—I mean, Overbite. Do you—do you hear—"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do…"

Lightning once again leaned further to look down into the alleyway, but this time she couldn't see anything or anyone, although she could definitely hear sharp clanking sounds resonating up from the end of the alley. "Hey? Something going on down there?" she asked, trying to strain her eyes to see something, anything down through the darkness.

"It's uh, I think it may, uh…" Fang's voice stammered from the below. "W-We should probably go. NOW."

"Huh?!" Lightning leaned even further over the rooftop just as a loud, screeching noise pierced the air, instantly making her recoil away from the ledge to clutch her head at the ears and grimace in pain. "Augghhhhh! What the hell was—" She froze in mid-sentence as two bright beams of light snapped on from the valley below and started to shakily rise up in height.

"What the…" she mouthed, her senses still reeling after being hit with the excruciatingly loud screech and suddenly blinding bright lights.

Another mechanical shriek brought her eyes back down over the edge of the roof and what she saw almost made her jaw drop.

A huge machine was unsteadily pushing itself up from the ground. Two big cogs spun and lifted to settle into the sides of the machine's body, which mainly looked to be comprised of a huge cab with two bright lights shining from the front of it. The sound of metal knocking and scraping against each other filled the area as two large, metal claws unfolded from the bottom of the cab to point forward.

Lightning felt glued to her spot as she looked down in surprise. That thing looked familiar. She had definitely seen it somewhere before…

Her spine stiffened as the memory suddenly popped to the forefront of her head.

She had seen it before. Well, maybe she hadn't exactly seen the thing itself, but she had definitely seen a miniature model of something quite similar to it before, not too long before she had even become a l'Cie… in a display case at the Vestige exhibit. She had no doubts about it. This was some sort of PSICOM armament, like a dreadnought of sorts.

They had to get out of there.

"GUYS!" she yelled, leaning to look further over the edge.

With the dreadnought now standing, lights blazing down the alley as it continued to pull itself together, it took no time for Lightning to immediately spot Snow and Fang. Both were lifting themselves up from crouching positions, seemingly recovering from being so close to the loud shriek that had filled the alley earlier, and stumbling around as they worked to regain their senses.

"Guys! Get out of there! Now—"

Lightning was cut off by another piercing screech of scraping metal as the dreadnought finished assembling itself and lifted to an even higher standing position, its large, claw-like arms clamping open and shut and as it swung them in the air.

Fang lightly hit the side of her head with the butt of her palm. She still felt disoriented from the unexpected flash of light that had been aimed straight at her face paired with a scream that felt like it had burst her eardrums. "Wha?" Her eyes finally adjusted to the brightness that she and Snow were covered in and saw the giant machine standing before them. "Uhhhhh…" was all she could get out, all of her coherent thoughts melting away as she blindly reached forward and grabbed Snow's arm to pull him back in the opposite direction down the alley.

"G-gotta! We gotta—" she continued to sputter as she started tumbling backwards in a rush to create as much distance between her and the huge piece of metal as she possibly could. It took no time for Snow to get his bearings, see the dreadnought, and get with the program. He quickly pivoted around and broke out into a sprint down the alley, which encouraged Fang to do the same.

Another loud screech filled the alley and a forceful tremor shook the ground. Fang felt herself lose her footing and stumble off to the side and into a wall as the earth trembled beneath her. "Huh?" She chanced a look behind her to peek at the large metal structure they were running away from and her eyes almost popped out of her head.

The thing was raising its claws to the air and quickly smashing them back down onto the ground. On its very next pound, a large crack broke through the asphalt. The dreadnought lifted its claws again to bring down to the ground, but this time when it made contact, the claws shot up at the same time that a large booming noise sounded, and the ground shook with a strange force. That crack was now growing, running down the alley just as Fang and Snow had been before they had gotten tripped up, and behind it, the rest of the asphalt began to crumble and sink.

"GO! GO! GO!"

Fang could barely hear Snow's yelling over the sound of her heart beating in her ears as a hand pushed at her shoulder to turn her around and her legs instinctively started running again.

But they wouldn't run fast enough.

That crack visibly shot ahead of them down the alley, and Fang could feel the asphalt crumbling and slipping away beneath her feet.

Up above, Lightning could only watch in horror as the huge dreadnought demolished the thin alley that her two comrades were trying to run down. She had to help them. She jumped to stand on top of the building's edge and looked down, her mind racing to think of a way to save Fang and Snow as they were being swallowed by the cave-in.

"Whoa! What's going on down—what? Oh, shit! We got them!"

Lightning's head flew upwards. She could hear an echoing yell over all of the commotion down below.

"We've got them! Page weaponry and tactics squads 1, 5, and 6! Report to Checkpoint Delta! We have interaction at Checkpoint Delta!"

Despite the acute pain in her head from the noise and lights that was making it hard for her to even think right now, Lightning tried to focus as best as she could on the brick tower. Someone was up there, and that someone was calling for backup.

Not wasting any more time to think, but just feeling the need to act, Lightning lifted her hands to point towards the top of the tower. She hadn't even noticed that they were already tingling and swirling with magic. She planted her feet in the pebbles as she pointed her open hands upward and let'er rip. At first she could only feel the surge of energy as a strong torrent of wind thrust upwards and in the direction that she thought she heard the voice sounding from, but in a short moment a small, but mighty, tornado had formed on the rooftop. Thousands of the tiny pebbles that had comprised the first layer of the roof's surface kicked up to whirl around amidst the strong gales of wind and produced a multitude of clacking sounds as they whipped against the sides of the tower.

She could vaguely hear a scream bleating through the wind as the swirl of tiny rocks continued to violently beat at the brick tower. The scream grew louder until it suddenly stopped and she immediately retracted her hands to investigate.

She ran to the base of the tower, her eyes flying upwards to scan the distance of the thing, hoping to see where the patrolman may have been perched. She wouldn't find the perch, but almost immediately stumbled upon the actual PSICOM soldier. He was splayed out on Lightning's level of the roof, unconscious and covered in small pebbles. The man's face was littered with small, bloody cuts, from pebbles cutting against his face, no doubt, and he seemed to be as still as a board. Lightning's breath caught in her throat as she dropped down to the man's side.

Thank Etro, he was still breathing… but only barely.

Light placed both of her hands, one atop the other, over the man's chest and watched as they began to glow green. Her palms started to gently rise and fall as the man began to take stronger breaths, but Lightning still wasn't sure whether it was safe or not to let go yet. She kept her hands on him so long that most of the scratches on his face had knit themselves back together, although the bloody mess still remained.

"Augh!" The man's eyes flew open as he took in a long, deep breath. "Where am—what's going… Huh?" The man's eyes flew frantically around until they landed on Lightning, or as he saw her: the masked person hovering over him in the dead of the night right after he had reported seeing l'Cie activity. "Ahh—"

Lightning quickly cocked her arm back to deliver a heavy blow to the side of the man's head.

"Shit!" she hissed, quickly shaking her hand in the air as the man's head unconsciously fell back down into the pebbles. Gods, her hand ached! She would probably have to heal—

"RAHHHHHH!" a raspy shout from over the side of the building brought her back to the problem at hand. Light jumped to her feet to run back over to the side of the building.

Down below, Fang rolled off to her side to dodge another incoming punch from one of the dreadnought's heavy claws. She groaned as a sharp pain shot up her leg. The dreadnought had totally wrecked the small alley that they had been trying to escape down, which led to the three of them fighting in a deep crater that was surrounded by and filled with sharp pointy shards of broken asphalt, one of which Fang had just sliced her leg on.

"Guys, we need to get out of here! Quick! More PSICOM soldiers are on their way!" she could hear Lightning shouting from above.

"Hate to be the bearer of obvious news, sweetheart!" Fang loudly huffed as she jumped backwards to avoid another swing from the dreadnought, "But we're kinda busy!"

"You're not getting angry, are you?"

"IS THAT SERIOUSLY WHAT YOU'RE THINKING OF N—Ahhhh!"

Fang hit the ground with a hard thud as Snow collided into her. A huge slab of asphalt whizzed over their heads, crashing into the crater's side behind them. "We need some help!" Snow called, quickly jumping back to his feet and pulling Fang up with him. "Like now! Move!"

Snow pushed Fang away, simultaneously jumping backwards as a mechanical fist shot between them in the space where they had been standing less than a second ago.

Lightning's face scrunched as she looked down at her struggling teammates. They definitely needed help, but if she were to jump down and join them, she'd be pretty much stuck in the same situation that they were all in.

"Keep him occupied! I wanna try something!" Fang yelled, heading towards the inside edge of the crater as Snow nodded and began taunting the huge machine.

Once he had gained the dreadnought's attention, Snow fired an elemental spell at the monster while Fang ran, or more like quickly hobbled, around it to run her hand along one of its legs while unleashing her own saboteur powers. She hadn't been expecting much, the thing not being an actual living creature and all, but as she hop-limped away she heard a strange creak, almost similar to the sounds she would hear at Sazh's shop after they would start a real piece of shit car. Fang's eyes widened in realization.

Her powers could affect machines, too.

"New plan!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, continuing to weave her way around the dreadnought as it tried to fry Snow alive with a flamethrower that was apparently installed inside one of its claws. "You two, throw everything ya've got at 'im! I think I can take down his defenses!"

Snow began shooting spells at the machine immediately. From above, Lightning wasn't sure if they should be spending any more time fighting this thing when more PSICOM operatives were on the way, but it wasn't exactly like she could argue with them right now, so she followed suit. All the while, Fang ran around the dreadnought, ducking and weaving its swinging arms to the best of her abilities, while reaching out whenever she could to plant her hand against the machine to afflict it with a new ailment.

After about the third or fourth touch, the dreadnought started making irregular cranking noises. Fang hobbled backwards near Snow as the mighty machine shakily lowered itself closer to the ground and emitted a low humming noise. "Huh?" Fang asked aloud, as steam started to pour out of some of the various pipe ends that hung off the dreadnought's body.

"It must be trying to recoup!" Light called from above. "Relentless assault!"

They didn't need any more encouragement than that. Snow lifted both hands to throw different spells at the machine while Fang used each of her hands to throw out multiple ruin spells. From the rooftop, Lightning continued to barrage the dreadnought with her own magic as well. With so much power being unleashed upon it, it didn't take long before the dreadnought began to violently shake and begin staggering backwards.

"Snow, keep him off-balance! Light, get ready for something big!" Fang called, balling her hands into shining white fists and breaking into a fast, limping run towards the dreadnought. When she had just about reached the dreadnought, she dipped back to slide just under it, and brought her hands together. "Ahhhh!" she yelled, just as a powerful blast of white energy shot up out of her hands and into the underbelly of the giant machine, rocketing it upwards. Lightning followed the machine's upward path with her eyes, keeping her hands tucked to her sides as she built up a powerful elemental spell, and just as the dreadnought lifted to be a little over the roof's level, she thrust her hands forward to unleash the powerful spell dead into the dreadnought's side.

One last mechanical shriek filled the air as the dreadnaught vaulted into the building opposite of Lightning, wrecking the building's side and falling to loudly collide into the ground, being followed by a number of the building's smashed bricks.

"I-I think it's about done." Snow was the first to speak, lowering his hands but still keeping his eyes intent on the fallen machine. "C'mon, Fang. I'll help you climb out of here."

"Nah, nah. I'm fine," Fang waved off as she limped to where Snow was standing, frequently peeping over her shoulder to watch the dreadnought with a keen eye. Something was up. Although it was now laid out across the shattered asphalt, covered in broken bricks, she could hear something churning deep inside it. Something that was causing a faint light to leak from its cracks.

"You sure? Your leg looks pretty—"

Fang's head suddenly whipped around and her two hands lit up as she pushed a weak ruinga spell upward into Snow's chest, causing him to fly out of the crater with a loud, "Oomph!"

It had happened so fast, so out-of-the-blue, that Lightning couldn't do anything but watch from her perch in shock as Snow went shooting back onto the level asphalt of the alley. She opened her mouth to speak but her attention was quickly snatched away by a bright orange glow coming from the other side of the crater. It was the dreadnought. The giant machine had started trembling as a bright light inside of it seemed to be fighting its way out. Lightning was mesmerized by its bright orange glow for only a moment, when her body filled with dread as she realized what it was doing.

It was about to self-destruct.

Lightning's stomach dropped and her head whipped back around to the last l'Cie standing in the center of the crater, whose arms loosely and dangled at her sides as she stared wide-eyed at the glowing machine that was lying not too far away from her.

"FAAANNNGGGGG!" Light yelled at the top of her lungs, rushing to lean over the edge of the roof.

The last thing that Lightning would see before the loud boom, blinding light, and forceful blast that knocked her back to the opposite side of the roof would be a dark blur hopping over the side of the crater to descend upon Fang.


	25. Chapter 25

Lightning's head throbbed with a dull and consistent ache, but she continued to move forward. There were some things that a heal spell just wouldn't do the trick on, and she wasn't even sure if the uncomfortable pounding in her head was more of a physical or mental thing at this point. "Stop," she quietly commanded, reaching her hand back to form a 'halt' signal behind her.

The sound of multiple feet slapping against the asphalt rose and faded away in the distance. Lightning stayed still for a moment longer before slowly bringing her hand down and breaking into a power walk again. "We're parked on the next side street up, right?" She turned around to face Snow, whose clothes were roughly torn and face was nearly black from soot. He had been trudging along behind Lightning as the two did their best to evade any of the PSICOM foot soldiers that were now running about downtown. They were able to make enough ground right after defeating the dreadnought to be out of that area before the huge motorcade and helicopters appeared to block it all off. However, there was still the issue of getting back to Snow's car undetected, especially since Snow looked as if he had fought in a war. It didn't help any that the oversized boy was also running around with an even more battered-looking, unconscious girl slung over his shoulder. "Do you need me to cast another heal on your hand again? It still looks swollen."

"Huh?" Snow lifted one of his hands to his face. It seemed huge, much more puffier and bruised than his other hand. The glove he'd been wearing earlier had been completely tattered and his knuckles still looked red and raw. It had been the hand that he used to save Fang's life. He couldn't explain how he exactly did it, but he distinctly remembered feeling all of his energy run to his fist before hopping back into the crater, knuckles first, and hitting the ground, miraculously creating some sort of cavity that was covered enough from above by broken asphalt to shield them from a good brunt of the explosion. He had described it as feeling like he had some type of 'sovereign fist'. "No, I think it's alright for now. It's not like it's the worst injury we've got to deal with, anyway."

Lightning nodded and her eyes lifted to the still unconscious Fang. Neither she nor Snow was sure if it was the result of some type of kickback from the explosion right before Snow had reached her or from the force of Snow's rescue attempt, but Fang had been pulled out of that cavity much more wounded than Snow had. Lightning was able to heal her for a short moment before they had to start running, but she knew that she needed more time.

"Hey."

Lightning slightly jumped on hearing Snow's voice.

"She's going to be fine," Snow tried to reassure. The usually stoic Lightning had definitely become more frazzled after the dreadnought exploded, something that Snow knew was perfectly understandable but still hard for him to comprehend just from knowing how Lightning usually handled intense situations. Usually she was the one to stay level-headed, keeping her cool and working almost like a machine to get them out of danger, but it was he who had to wrench Fang from her green-lit hands in order for them to leave the alley before PSICOM could show. Even during their zigzagged trip through the back alleys of downtown Bodhum, he would often catch Lightning turning to anxiously glimpse at the lifeless girl on his shoulder. "We all are. I'm pretty sure the car is right around the corner, anyway. We'll be back to safety in no time, but we have to cross that main street first. Do you think we can make it from here to there without getting noticed, though? I mean… look at us."

Lightning looked to the ground and sighed. Snow had a point. There would no doubt be at least a couple of PSICOM soldiers patrolling the main street, and they definitely wouldn't blend in. At least, not all of them.

"Give me your keys," she demanded, reaching out her hand. "You can lay low somewhere out of sight while I bring the car around. Sound like a plan?"

"You can drive?"

"You have a better idea?"

"You're right." Snow handed Lightning the keys while Lightning handed Snow the folded up cape and mask that she had taken off blocks ago but had still been carrying around under her arm.

Lightning conjured up a small water spell to quickly wash her face with before settling herself and calmly walking out onto the lively downtown sidewalk. Although none of the other pedestrians noticed it, Lightning could unquestionably feel a tension in the air, especially coming from the few PSICOM soldiers that she passed on the way to Snow's car. There was definitely more security patrolling the sidewalks, more than likely looking for whoever had knocked out one of their sentries and destroyed their dreadnought. Nevertheless, Lightning would find no trouble getting to the car and driving it around to pick up Snow.

Fang was still unconscious when she wheeled the car around.

Lightning exited the car as Snow gently laid Fang down across the back seat and covered her with Lightning's cape. "Wha—hey. What are you doing?" he asked as Lightning pushed past him to crawl back into the car after Fang.

"I need to finish healing her," Lightning stated, settling herself on the backseat floor. Snow watched her quizzically.

"You don't have to sit on the floor and do all that, though. I'm sure she'll be fine until we get back—"

"We're wasting time talking about this." The fierce and adamant look in Lightning's eyes was almost as effective at cutting Snow off as her intruding statement. "We need to leave before any PSICOM soldiers check this side street again."

"Uh… yeah." Snow clumsily nodded and left Lightning alone, giving the girl one last hesitant look before closing the backseat door. He pulled off what was left of his black trench coat and shirt as he walked to the back of the car. He summoned a light water spell to wash his face, just as Lightning had done earlier, and snatched up some spare, dirty clothes he had lying around in his trunk. He then got behind the wheel and started the long drive back to the reservation.

* * *

The ride was relatively quiet.

Snow would occasionally hear a soft whisper coming from the backseat and flick his eyes to his rearview mirror to get a glimpse of what was going on back there. There was always the ever-present green glow of Lightning's hands from her healing spells, one hand placed under the cape and on top of Fang's abdomen while the other, interestingly, held on to intertwine fingers with one of Fang's limp hands. He thought to maybe tell Lightning that driving around with a mysterious green light glowing from his backseat windows wouldn't do anything to help their cover, but on remembering the look in her eyes when he had said something about her getting in the backseat, he thought better of it.

"Ughhhhh…"

Snow peeped at the rearview mirror again. On the backseat, he could see Fang's legs squirming beneath the cape. He looked back to the road for a moment before looking in the rearview again to see Fang's eyes slightly open in thin slits. Lightning's hand had migrated up from Fang's stomach to side of her face while her other hand still tightly grasped Fang's. She had scooted closer against the back seat, hovering over Fang so that their foreheads were nearly brushing each other. Snow could hear the soft whispering begin again and could see Fang's chin slowly nodding up and down.

He quickly looked back to the road.

He didn't know what it was that he had been looking at, but he had a feeling that it was something he was not supposed to see. He had never felt like such an intruder in his own car.

A minute or two later, he heard a range of different shuffling noises from behind him, and before he knew it, Lightning had joined him at the front of the car.

"Uhhh…" Snow began, keeping his eyes plastered to the windshield, "How's Fang?"

"Alright," Lightning answered concisely. "She's still worn out, so she'll probably sleep the rest of the way."

"Okay." Snow nodded, trying to think of something else to say. At least for him, the car felt as if it had gotten just a tad bit more awkward. "Do you want to maybe talk abou—"

Lightning leaned forward to click on the radio, abruptly cutting off whatever he had to say. "I love this song," she said in a dull voice as some random tune flowed through the speakers.

Snow just nodded and tapped the top of his wheel as they continued to ride in silence. For someone who had seemed to be in such a nurturing mood just a minute ago, it was almost weird how quickly she had flipped the switch to being seemingly pissed.

On the last leg of their trip, Snow slowed the car down as they reached the beginning of the entrance road to the reservation. A group of about five PSICOM officers stood on each side of the road while one stood in the middle, waving a flashlight to signal for Snow to stop the car.

"This can't be good…" Snow said in a lowered the volume on the radio and rolled down his window. "Good evening, sirs. How may I help you?"

"ID chips. Both of you. Now." The soldier seemed to be eyeing Snow's face diligently through the goggles of his mask as Snow fished his identification out of his pocket to hand over. "You're Cocoonian," he stated, after a quick scan of the two chips.

"Yes, sir. Born and raised!" Snow returned with a smile.

"Hm." The soldier nodded once. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking up my next door neighbor, sir. I dropped him off earlier to do some of that reservation community service work."

"Hm," the soldier said again.

Lightning could feel herself tensing as she watched the soldier. Fang should've been quite visible through the windows from the way she was laying across the backseat. It would be a bit harder to spot the girl since she was covered by the cape, but at this time of night, the PSICOM officers surely had to have their night vision capabilities turned on for their masks. It would only take one look behind Snow's head and into the backseat for him to see her… but it was a look that the officer didn't even attempt to make.

"Very well, then. Go ahead."

The soldier moved out of the way to let Snow slowly drive forward. "Well," Snow began after the window had been rolled up and the car had driven a few meters forward, "I think it's safe to conclude that they're probably suspicious of l'Cie now. Might be even safer to say that we know who their prime suspects are."

"They were looking for us." Fang's voice softly floated to the front seat, causing Snow to almost instantaneously check his rearview mirror. The Gran Pulsian was slowly pulling herself up to sit against the back door panel. "Like they knew we were comin'… It's why that thing was there."

Neither Lightning nor Snow responded. They had all been so preoccupied with escaping from PSICOM that they hadn't stopped to think more about why the dreadnought had been planted downtown in the first place.

"I dunno" Snow began uneasily, fixing his eyes on the road. "Maybe. If nothing else, they were definitely trying to bring down Snowman, but I guess if they knew that a fal'Cie was loose in the Vestige, then they may have figured that some l'Cie were running around too."

The car once again fell silent.

"Did anyone call Vanille? Make sure she's alright? That one of those things wasn't sent to the reservation?"

"You choose a great time to start worrying about what'll happen to Vanille…" Lightning murmured under her breath.

Snow's head quickly snapped to the side to shoot Lightning a befuddled look, but the girl was staring straight out through the windshield, giving very few signs as to what she was thinking. Snow could only make a mental observation that the worried, nurturing side of her had apparently vanished without a trace.

"Well, uh," he fumbled as he brought his eyes back to the road and thought of an answer to give to Fang. "We'll be able to make sure for ourselves in a few. How are you feeling?"

"Shitty," Fang grumbled. Snow could hear her uncomfortably shifting around under the cape in the back seat. "How'd I… How'd I make it outta that blast?"

"The powers of Snowman," Snow said with a slight smile. "I had one of those 'mother lifting a car off her baby' moments and went all Hulk smash for you. If you saw it, you would've been impressed."

Fang lightly grunted in an amused way but didn't say another word for the rest of the short ride to reservation's living area.

Snow supported Fang the distance to her trailer, and when the three of them burst through the door, they were greeted by the startled stares of Hope and Vanille, who were sitting on the sofa watching television.

"Gods, what happened to y—Fang?" Vanille jumped from the sofa to run up to her best friend, but Fang shooed her away with the flick of a wrist.

"I'm alright. I'm alright. The night was just a tad more eventful than we thought it'd be," she excused. "Youths today are vicious."

"But your leg!" Vanille pointed out, looking down at the slash across Fang's leg that still hadn't fully healed yet. "Let me heal that for you."

"Vanille, I've got it." Lightning moved up to step between Vanille and Fang. "There was a lot of dirt and stones out where she got cut. I want to make sure it's properly cleaned out before healing it. You keep watching TV. She'll be fine."

Vanille slowly nodded, finding some reassurance in the calm and commanding way that Lightning had spoken to her. She hesitantly sat back down on the sofa as the three older teens moved to the opposite side of the trailer to the bathroom.

Snow helped seat Fang on the toilet and she lifted her leg so that her heel was resting on the edge of the tub. Gently, she ripped open her torn pants fabric and slightly grimaced on seeing the large cut against her leg. Snow just backed away to lean in the doorway with his arms folded as Lightning searched the small cupboard behind the mirror for things to clean the wound with. "So the pain isn't too bad anymore?" Lightning asked as she searched.

"It still hurts. Everywhere. But it's nothing a few painkillers can't cure," Fang said, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't disturb Hope and Vanille. "Thanks, Snow. I guess I really owe ya one, huh?"

Snow's lip twitched upward in a light smile as he continued to lean against the doorframe.

"Do ya like cherries? I know this place that makes a mean fruit basket that I could send ya… Light? Light, why are ya lookin' at me like that?"

"What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"AHHHH!"

Fang's leg shot up from where it was elevated as a huge wave of alcoholic medical serum splashed across her cut.

"Shit, woman!" Fang cried, nearly popping a vein in her neck as she clutched at her thigh in pain. "Could ya be just a little more sparing with the—AHHH!"

Lightning had tipped the bottle to pour more of the burning liquid onto Fang's wound.

"Lightning..." Snow looked behind his shoulder to peep Vanille and Hope staring in the bathroom's direction with bewildered expressions on their faces. "Lightning, maybe you should tone this down just a little. Ee-shay is-hay agnarok-ray."

"Ee-shay is-hay also upid-stay!" Lightning exclaimed in reply, glowering at Fang. "Really! What were you thinking?!"

"I dunno! Save Snow's life?!" Fang yelled back. "I'd think ya'd be a little more grateful!"

"I'm grateful," Snow piped in with his pointer finger raised to the air, but his comment was completely overpowered by Lightning.

"And what good did that do? He still had to jump right back down into an exploding field to save your ass! You've got sentinel abilities! Why didn't you use them?"

"It was a BIG ASS robot!"

"You didn't even try!"

"Whatta ya mean I didn't try? Ya think I was just standing there with open arms shouting 'take me now' as the thing exploded?"

Lightning exhaled exasperatedly and tilted the bottle again.

"Hey, hey, hey! Just wait a sec!" Fang jumped up from the toilet seat and held her hands out cautiously towards Lightning. "So maybe my decision-making wasn't the greatest, but I was just tryna help. I'm Ragnarok, the beast of burden—"

"That's an ass."

"Can ya stop being condescending for just one minute? As I was saying, it just happened so quickly. I didn't have time to think; I just acted. And the one thing that kept repeating in my head was that it was all my fault that everyone was out there. My fault for everything… So it was my responsibility to make sure none of ya got hurt. And with me being the one who's supposed to turn into a monster, I figured I had the least to lose."

Lightning fiercely stared Fang down, still tightly gripping the serum bottle. There was a definite hint of disbelief in her eyes.

"Um, excuse me." Vanille's head poked in past the bathroom door. "What exactly happened to you guys? Explosions and robots and… asses?"

"I'll explain it to you," Snow offered, reaching out an arm to take Vanille by the shoulders as he turned out of the doorway.

Lightning lowered her eyes and sighed. When she lifted her gaze again, it had lost a lot of the ferocity that it had held earlier. "Just…" she said under her breath, tiredly placing the bottle of serum in the sink, "Just try to think next time, okay? No more trying to save the day and being a 'beast of burden'. Just—just don't. We're supposed to be fighting this focus together, and… and I don't want to do it without you. So just don't."

"Okay," Fang said, nodding her head up and down as she watched Lightning through guilty eyes. "Man… it's a wonder you weren't chosen to be agnarok-ray with that hot head you've got. Not really something you'd expect from a homecoming princess nominee."

Lightning's face scrunched in mild disapproval at both the timing of the joke and the reference to her status in the race for homecoming princess, but knowing that this was something to be somewhat expected of Fang, no matter what their current circumstances were, she just made a face and lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.

"But about the whole Ragnarok thing…"

Lightning looked to Fang attentively.

"…I'm sorry. I should've told ya sooner. Especially since we'd—" Fang paused to look past Lightning and into the other room of the trailer, where Hope and Vanille were totally engrossed in Snow's over-fabricated retelling of their Superhero Night, "—well… been getting closer and all. It wasn't right keep ya outta the loop like that just cause I thought it'd give me a better chance to get in yer—uh, wait. I can phrase that a whole lot better."

Light rolled her eyes at Fang's statement, but instead of reaching for the serum bottle, she just reached her hand out to lightly touch Fang's thigh instead. Her fingers glowed green as she began to cast her final healing spells on Fang's wounded leg. "Don't worry about it," she said, as Fang's face relaxed into a easier expression. "It doesn't really matter how long who knew what anymore. It's just important that we all know now, and we know we have to watch our step because PSICOM is on the lookout for us. You and Vanille especially if they've got posts around the reservation. Maybe it'd be a good idea for the two of you to go away for awhile."

"Go away?" Fang asked, giving Lightning a slightly confused look.

"Just until things settle. If Hope can still snag those keys to that house in Palumpolum, that'd be ideal. There probably aren't as many patrols looking around Palumpolum as there are here, and you'd have an empty house all to yourselves. It'd be like a vacation."

"And you'd trust us to just shack up in a some strange house in some strange city?"

"Well," Lightning trailed, stepping closer to Fang and reaching a hand out to gently turn her face, examining for cuts or bruises she may have missed in the healing process, "I won't lie. I would feel better if someone else went up with the two of you. It'll probably have to be Snow since he's being raised like a wildebeest and his guardians won't care."

"Well, I won't lie to ya either," Fang softly replied as her head was slowly turned in the opposite direction. "I'd feel better if you came up and spent some time with us. I mean, why should we be the only ones acting like it's vacation?"

Lightning slowly retracted her hand from the bottom of Fang's face as she mulled the thought over. "I'm not sure if I'd be able to get away."

Fang's face visibly dimmed, pulling at Light in an unexpected way.

"But I could try," she recovered, feeling a bit better on seeing Fang's features hopefully light up. "I can say that I'll be at Lebreau's for the weekend, or something, and ride up with Snow."

A small smile began to whittle its way to Fang's lips. "I'd like th—"

"You did NOT!" Vanille's voice loudly broke through their conversation.

Fang leaned to the side to look past Lightning and into the main compartment of the trailer. Vanille was shaking her head at Snow with her hands planted on her hips while Hope looked up at Snow from his seat on the sofa with a disbelieving expression on his face as well.

"Speaking of the devil, he's probably in there right now spreading all kinds of propaganda about what happened earlier," Lightning said, her head turned to look over her shoulder into the adjoining room. She turned to face Fang again and hesitantly paused before holding out her hand. "Want to set him straight?"

Fang could feel her smile slowly spreading as she warmly looked down to Light's outstretched hand. "I'd love to." With that, she took Lightning's hand and allowed herself to be led out of the bathroom.

* * *

In an attempt to not make any sound, Lightning turned the key in the lock as slowly as she could when entering her house. Once she had pushed the door open enough where she'd have enough space enter, she lifted her hand to give Snow a good-bye wave and slid inside, once again doing her best to close the door as quietly as possible.

"Claire."

Lightning let out a thwarted breath and didn't even bother to attempt silence when clicking the final locking mechanism back on. "Dad, I'm—" she began as she turned around to face her father.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Lightning froze when her eyes landed on the man. He looked totally disheveled. His hair was ruffled and there were visible bags under his slightly veined eyes. The only other time she had seen her father in any type of discord had been when her mother passed… "Dad—"

"Where have you been? And why is your phone turned off? Didn't I tell you to be home by a certain time?"

"Y-yeah," Lightning stammered, still thrown off guard by how distressed her father looked. "I'm sorry. It's just that—"

"I've been worried sick about you! Do you have absolutely any idea how much anxiety you've put me in these past hours?!"

"Dad, I really am sorry! It's just, after training I stopped by the reservation and lost track of time watching television." Partly true. "I didn't think it'd matter too much." Or she didn't think she had to worry about getting caught. Her father had never been known to check whether she and Serah were in the house after a certain time of day.

"The reservation…" The look on Farron's face turned contemptuous. "Well, this will be the last time that this happens. Yun Fang and Dia Vanille… I don't want you to see them anymore."

"Dad, it's not their—"

"Did you hear what I said?!" Farron's voice boomed as he took a step closer to Lightning, causing her to take a frightened step backwards. "No more training! No more rides to track meets! No more house visits! I don't even want to hear their names spoken in this house, do you understand?"

"But it's not their—"

"I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Lightning hadn't noticed it, but she had been fully backed up so that her back was pushing against the wood of the front door. The look in her father's eyes was damn near crazed, he was so mad. She wasn't one to test his patience on a regular day, so she knew that she had no chance in trying to go against him now. "Yes, sir." Her voice came out barely over a whisper.

Farron's chest heaved as he continued to stare at his daughter through tempered eyes, but finally, he took a slightly calming breath and stepped back. "Consider yourself punished, as well. I'll be sending someone to bring you home promptly after school and monitor you until I get home. I already took your computer from your room, and I want your phone to be on the desk in my study before you leave for school tomorrow."

Lightning lifted hurt and uncomprehending eyes up to her father. "Tomorrow?"

Farron scowled at Lightning for a brief moment before balling his fists and backing a few steps away from her. "Tomorrow. If you need to call those Pulsians on the reservation, do it tonight," he said, turning to walk through the room and to the staircase. "And let them know that if I catch them in my house again, they'll be praying that I allow them to leave in chains."

* * *

There was nothing comparable on Cocoon to the nighttime soundtrack of the Gran Pulsian reservation. Fang attributed it to the land being so natural, or as natural as things got on this planet, and therefore attracting many more of the world's wild attendants.

'This is just where they like to throw all their wild things, eh?' Fang thought to herself as she stared up at the dark ceiling of the trailer, listening to the outside symphony of nighttime creatures mixed with the gentle rustle of Vanille's breathing against one of their sheets. 'Cocoonians. Can't stand what they can't control, so they all try to throw 'em someplace where they don't think they can be bothered.'

"Fang?" a voice softly peeped from beside her.

Fang's eyebrows shot up as she turned to spy the back of Vanille's head. She had no idea that the girl was still awake. "Yeah, Van?"

"What do you think about the Palumpolum idea?"

"Hm." Fang shrugged, even though she knew Vanille wasn't watching her. "Guess it's the best decision to make right now, considering everything, yeah?"

"Yeah. As long as nobody gets hurt, I guess it's a good plan… Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember when we were young? That first night in the orphanage after we lost our parents?" The sheets rustled as Vanille twisted her upper body around so that she was looking back at Fang.

"I could never forget," Fang replied. Her forehead crinkled as some of those glum memories passed to the forefront of her mind.

"And you remember the promises we made, right? That we'd protect each other always. And that we'd stick together… forever."

Fang opened her mouth to speak, but could find no immediate answer. She let out a soft breath before turning to look back up at the ceiling. "I remember, Vanille."

"We're still going to do that, right? Stick together forever? No matter what?"

Fang's eyebrows knit tightly as she turned her head to face Vanille again. "Where's all this coming from?"

"I-I dunno. Just… I want to hear you say it again. Think of it like renewing a vow. I've been talking to the gods more often, and I learned that the more you say something that you really really mean, the stronger it gets."

"Vanille, that's stupid. Repeating shit over and over again doesn't solve problems. Doing shit solves problems. Have ya even considered that since we need to join to become that monster, that it'd probably be better for everybody if one of us disappeared? Or did the gods tell ya something different?"

"Oh…"

Fang turned her head to look at Vanille again. Her eyes had gone glassy and the unmistakable look of hurt was splayed across her face. Fang could feel her own facial expression loosening into one of remorse. Where did that even come from? She never talked to Vanille like that. Ever. Especially when it came to something as sensitive as their first nights in the orphanage. "Van…" she tried to piece together, her voice laced with guilt. "Van, I am so sorry. I didn't mean that. I just—I don't know what came over me. I promise, Van. I promise that we'll always protect each other and stick together. No matter what."

Vanille's face still looked somber, but she gave a quick nod in acceptance of Fang's promise. "I promise too, Fang. We'll always stick together and protect each other. Always."

A small, wry smile pulled at Fang's lips before the girl turned over to face the wall opposite Vanille. She couldn't bear to look into Vanille's sad eyes for a moment longer with so much guilt weighing her down. Guilt from snapping at her the way she did, and guilt from knowing what she had done, because it had only been a few hours earlier that she had been standing in that crater, arms relaxed and dangling at her sides instead of tense and guarded, as she stared into the glow of a different ticking time bomb… just waiting for it to go off and break that promise.


	26. Chapter 26

Fang slouched in her seat in homeroom, twiddling a pencil between her fingers so that it spastically hit the surface of her desk. Most students in the room were currently giving their undivided attention to the small TV in the upper corner, where the student broadcast team was relaying the morning news. Fang usually didn't pay the television any mind, but she was especially ignoring it today. Her head was just too filled with the plans of this upcoming weekend.

There were only a couple days left before she, Vanille, and Snow were supposed to take that drive to Hope's vacation home in Palumpolum, which was probably a good thing. Tensions were heating at the reservation. PSICOM had started performing random security checks, bursting into many of her people's trailers and waving around small pieces of paper that they knew the Gran Pulsians couldn't read or comprehend, saying that it was a new decree to ensure everyone's safety. It was total bullshit in Fang's opinion, and she couldn't help but feel more weighed down by the idea of leaving. She would be abandoning her people to roll in the mess that she had initially created. While she was relaxing in some hoity toity house in Palumpolum, armed strangers would be lawfully breaking into their homes. To make things worse, she didn't even know if she'd come back. PSICOM might never find out that she was the rogue l'Cie and could continue to punish her people for it. Or they would let up, but the Cocoonian school system might not allow any more kids from the reservation attend public school because the first two experimental ones caused hell then dropped out. No matter which way she spun it, it always came back looking like a lose-lose situation.

"Whoop! Whoop!"

Fang looked up from her desk as someone made a loud cheer, followed by a multitude of clapping hands. Some guy was standing up at the front of the class and bowing as everyone applauded him. Fang looked up towards the television to see the boy's picture flash across the screen before a video of him running down the court, dribbling a basketball, played.

"What's all this about?" Fang leaned to the side and whispered to the girl sitting in the desk beside her.

The girl gave Fang an apprehensive look, her eyes darting from the screen to Fang's face, before releasing an annoyed breath. "They're showcasing the homecoming nominees. Duhhh. Pay attention next time, Pulsian."

Fang crinkled her nose contemptuously at the girl before crossing her arms and turning in her seat to look back up at the screen. "It's Gran Pulsian… heifer," she muttered under her breath.

On second thought, maybe getting away from school for a bit wouldn't be too bad an idea.

* * *

Lightning stared at the TV in homeroom with a forlorn look on her face. At any moment, her name would be called, followed by a picture and some sort of video montage showcasing her 'school spirit'. She still had no idea how the production crew would pull that kind of footage out of their asses…

"Etro, I am SO pumped for this," Lebreau stated from the desk beside her, her fists clenched and her eyes fiercely glued to the television. "I'm gonna scream, shout, and fucking hula dance on this desk when your name gets called."

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"What? You can't let Stacy have a louder reception than you. And I'm sure Alyssa's paid people in her homeroom to cheer for her."

"I don't need people to cheer for—"

"There you are!" Lebreau pointed upwards towards the television screen. "WHOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH, LIGHTNING! Whhhooooooooouuuhhhhhh—ooohhhh…."

All of the applause and cheering that had initially accompanied Lebreau all died down as everyone stared blankly at the screen in the corner of the room. Lightning's breath caught in her throat and her insides twisted as she gaped at the television as well. There was no peppy video, taking place out on a grassy field. No brightly lit basketball court or crowded auditorium like most of the other candidates. Instead there was a dark street, lit by a lone streetlamp that wasn't strong enough to brighten the whole frame but perfectly sufficient enough to illuminate, clear as day, the figures of Lightning and Fang, who were standing beneath it. Lightning was pushing up closer against Fang, who was grasping the sides of Lightning's head, slightly tilting it this way and that to try out new angles as they continually kissed.

"So, I, uh… I see things have been coming along with Fang," Lebreau said in a small voice. "Yayyy."

The face of a different homecoming princess nominee flashed across the screen. It was then that Lightning could feel all the attention in the room being placed back on her. No one spoke outright to her, but she could hear some of her peers begin to whisper amongst one another. At the front of the room, their teacher nervously looked at Lightning from her desk before quickly looking back to the television.

"Light, don't let it bother you," she could hear Lebreau whispering beside her. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. If it was Tammy or damn near anyone else kissing Fang up there, no one would care. I bet this was Alyssa's idea just to bug—"

"Not now, Lebreau," Lightning snapped. Her heart was beginning to thump violently in her chest, and she wasn't exactly sure whether it was due to anger or humiliation… maybe even both.

There was a loud buzz from a different corner of the room as the class's intercom popped on. "Claire Farron, please report to the principal's office. Claire Farron, please report to the principal's office."

The murmuring in the class became louder, this time accompanied by some snickering. Lightning could feel her face heat up as the bell for first period rang.

* * *

The halls felt nauseatingly overcrowded as Lightning pushed her way through the sea of students to get to the front office. As she maneuvered between the different bodies, she was met with all kinds of attention. Some kids would cheer, telling her 'way to go!'. Others would loudly scoff at her as she walked past. She heard some particularly insulting names being thrown her way from kids who she couldn't get a clear look at, along with feeling the judgmental stares from others. The thing that she hated, almost as much as the attention, was knowing that there were too many people to try and shut up.

"Hey, Lightning!" one boy excitedly called as he approached from the opposite end of the hallway. Lightning didn't entertain him by looking in his direction, yet he still continued on. "I didn't know you were part of the Pulse community service project! Or should I say… servicing project!" He then laughed and raised two fingers in the shape of a 'V', sticking his tongue through them to make lewd rolling motions.

Lightning stopped to angrily glower at him. She had been quietly taking in all the comments, jokes, names, and dirty looks without giving a reaction, but this was too much. If there was someone that she had to take out her frustrations on, it might as well be this asshole. She moved to take a step closer in the boy's direction when out of nowhere, a quick blur shot across the hall, flinging the boy into the wall of lockers with a loud thud and eliciting a high-pitched squeak from him. Lightning stopped in mid-step, watching as Fang stood, angrily gripping the boy by his shirt against the lockers.

"What did you just say?" Fang snarled, holding the boy a good foot above the ground as she pinned him up against the wall.

"I-I-I," the boy stammered as his brain failed to properly function. "I was just joking—"

Lightning just continued to stare in shock. Gods, Fang looked furious. Her chest was heaving and it looked as if smoke was about to start fuming from her nostrils. She almost looked mad enough to… oh shit. "Fang, stop!" Lightning commanded, snapping back into the moment. She hurriedly started making her way past the gawking students who watched in amusement at how Fang was so easily manhandling the boy.

"I didn't like that joke," Fang growled, rotating her fists so that they twisted deeper into the boy's shirt. "Didn't find it funny at all. Did you think it was funny joke?"

The boy yelped as his back was pounded into the locker again.

"Fang!" Lightning reached forward to try and pull one of the girl's arms back, but it was no use. Fang was much too strong. She shouldn't be getting worked up like this. This meant trouble for everybody. "Fang, put him down!"

"If I hear that joke again," Fang narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer to the boy's frightened face, "No matter who I hear it from, I'll be looking for ya. And we'll be continuing this conversation."

Fang then released the boy, letting him drop to the floor and taking a step back before watching him scurry off down the hall. When she turned back to face Light, a satisfied smirk was situated on her face.

"No worries. I don't think he'll be messin' with ya anymore."

Lightning's face fell in surprise.

"What? Thought I was going all monster mode on ya?" Fang asked lightheartedly. "I may be pissed, but I'm not homicidal. Talk about an invasion of privacy though, right?"

Lightning continued to stare at Fang, still unsure of what to make of things until she heard the whispers start up again. She looked over her shoulder and to her dismay, some students were even pointing their camera phones at them. She growled and turned back around. "Fang, I can take care of myself," she said, lowering her voice. "Especially if you're not going around making such big scenes in the hallway."

"Making a scene?" Fang asked, tilting her head in confusion. "That guy made the scene. I was just tryna help out."

"You really want to help out? Then stop helping out. Make yourself scarce for the rest of the day."

"What?"

"A fire burns out if there's nothing to fuel it. So that's what we'll do. Stick to our original plan. No talking in the hallways, after school, or whatever. And you'll be in Palumpolum soon. So while you're gone, everything will die down and they'll all forget about it when the next new story comes along."

Fang stared at Lightning, conspicuously taken aback by what had been said. "So that's what ya want? For everyone to just forget about it? And I guess it's hard for anyone to do that with me always talking to ya and trying to help out, right?"

"It's the best thing to keep our cover—"

"Nah, nah. I get it." Fang said, putting up her hands. "Guess the whole fighting together thing only works when it's convenient for you, huh? But hey, I should be used to it by now. Tis the Cocoon way."

Lightning's eyebrows knit together and her eyes hardened as Fang's words began to sink in. "Fang, don't compare me to—"

"No, really. I understand." Fang took a few steps around Lightning to start walking down the opposite direction of the hall. "And to show it, I'll even help ya out. I'll get a head start on the whole forgetting it ever happened part."

Fang didn't wait for Lightning to reply before turning and continuing down the hallway. She didn't even rush. She knew the Cocoonian wouldn't follow or call after her.

And just as expected, near the center of the hall, Lightning did nothing but watch as Fang walked away. The whispers started up once again, but this time Lightning didn't find herself caring as much. All she could think about was Fang and that betrayed look in her eyes. She lifted a hand to rub at her temples as she broke into a quick stride towards the principal's office.

Back down the other end of the hall, Fang continued to walk until she heard a high pitched, "Awwww, did you two just have a lovers' quarrel?"

Fang glanced up. Not too far ahead of her, leaning against the lockers, stood Alyssa along with some of her friends. "Piss off," Fang mumbled, as she continued to walk.

"What do you think the title of the yearbook page should be if Lightning wins the homecoming race? Princess and the Pauper or Princess and the Pulsian? Doesn't matter. Not like she'll win now, anyway. And you were so close to somewhat being considered royalty. Although, from the looks of it, she probably wouldn't have asked you to be her date anyway—"

"SHUT UP!"

There was the loud screech of metal as Fang's fist collided with the locker right near Alyssa's head, the door of the compartment bending and molding around Fang's fist. Alyssa stood frozen, wide-eyed and terrified at Fang, as the other girl took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Just…" Fang sighed, slowly removing her hand from the fist-shaped hole in the locker. Alyssa's bewildered eyes also darted to the side to glaze over the huge dent next to her head.

"H-how did you… What…" she began, looking to the locker then looking to Fang in some kind of disturbed awe.

Fang took a step backwards. Behind her, she heard the scuffle of tennis against the floor as the students behind her scattered to move out of her way. An eerie quietness settled over their section of the hall, followed by an onslaught of hushed whispers. Fang's eyes just continued to jump from Alyssa to the locker. She would have to explain that. But how? "I've—I've gotta go." With that, Fang gripped the book bag strap over her shoulder and rushed off into a different direction down the hall.

* * *

Lightning sat by herself in the outdoor bleachers during lunchtime. It was the only place where she could be alone without a multitude of people staring at her, mocking her, or making inappropriate catcalls at her. Earlier today, she had been called into the principal's office to be told that there had been a homecoming vote miscount and that she hadn't actually been nominated for homecoming princess. She truthfully felt relieved, but at the same time felt disgusted. She knew there hadn't been a miscount. And even worse, she was disgusted with herself. The school had yanked her from the homecoming race because they didn't want someone involved with a Gran Pulsian to be in the limelight, and she had done the exact same thing in the hallway when she told Fang that they needed to avoid each other in public.

Lightning sighed and dropped her head in her hands. Between this whole mess and the growing symbol on her chest, her life felt like it was spinning out of control.

"Farron!"

Light slowly lifted her head to spot Gadot and Snow walking along the bleachers in her direction.

Shit. Just what she needed…

"How ya doing there, Farron?" Gadot asked with a smile, plopping down on one side of her while Snow slowly lowered himself on her other side.

"Peachy," Lightning answered in a nonplussed tone. "Isn't it obvious?"

"I figured so much…" Gadot replied, still wearing that smile. "…since you've got a woman and all now. You could've given me a heads up on your preferences though. I wouldn't have spent so much time hawking ya if you did."

"Oh, for Etro's sake," Lightning mumbled, rising to her feet. "I'm out of here."

"Wait." Snow's hand shot up to grab her shoulder and push her back down onto the bleacher. Lightning's head immediately snapped in his direction, her eyes ablaze, and Snow instinctively flinched away from her. "Please? We come in peace."

"Yeah. We were looking around for Fang, but word through the hallways is that she left school early this morning. We aren't absolutely sure why, but we figure it had something to do with that argument you two had in the hallway," Gadot said.

"What makes you think we had an argument in the hallway?" Lightning asked, leaning forward to rest her chin on her elbow.

Gadot looked to Snow, who shrugged. They simultaneously reached into their pockets to grab their cell phones. As two different video feeds started playing, Lightning leaned back to lift her hands in the air. "Okay, I get it! Everyone in school has an HD inside look on everything that goes on between me and Fang! What does this have to do with either of you? I doubt you can come up with anything more original than what I've already heard today."

"We didn't come to tease you," Gadot replied, crossing his huge arms across his chest. "If nothing else, I'm kinda impressed. Fang's sexy as hell. You did good, Farron. We came over because we want an apology."

Lightning's eyebrows dipped downwards in confusion. "An apology? What would I apologize to either of you for?" She swore to Etro, if Gadot mentioned something about any more of his failed flirtation attempts, she would really set that orange hair ablaze.

"For treating us like shit since the third grade for the cooties thing," Gadot answered simply. "We want our apologies, and we want them now."

"You can't be serious." Lightning looked from Gadot to Snow skeptically. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"But you owe us," Snow said, his voice a bit more sincere than Gadot's. "You gave us the coldest of shoulders back then, like an iceberg shoulder, for that rumour. You made us feel like crap, gave me bruises in dodge ball, AND you kept putting sand in my applesauce at lunch!"

"You made me the school stigma for three years."

"You liked it," Snow quickly retorted, earning him an angry glare from Lightning. "I mean, you acted like you liked it. When we started the rumour, you wore those cooties like it was the violet letter."

"Scarlet."

"Who's she?"

"Ugh… forget it."

"So yeah. You wore them like the violet letter. You used them to clear the swings for you and Serah, or to skip the line at lunch. If you heard people talking about you, you'd just walk over and tag them. You didn't give a crap about what everyone else said or thought. You just brushed it off and acted like you couldn't care less. It was pretty bad ass."

"Is there a point to any of this?" Lightning asked tiredly.

"Since that video hit the net—" Gadot began.

"It's on the net?" Lightning's face became cross with disbelief.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. On the school's video channel. I think it's got a couple hundred hits already. At least ten of them are from me."

"Just… ugh. Go on."

"Well, since that video hit the net, a lot of things started making more sense to me." Gadot introspectively rubbed his chin as he spoke. "Like how you were clearly the only person more hot and bothered in the basement of our party than I was, or how you kept staring at Fang when she wasn't looking when we were on that Vestige field trip. That's when it kinda clicked on me. You must really dig Fang."

"I—"

"I've seen the way you two are around each other," Snow said, looking Lightning in the eyes as he cut her off. "And even though you try to hide it, I've caught you giving her this look as if you're the only two people in the world." Snow's thoughts flicked back to what he had seen the previous night in the back of his car, and from her shifting facial expressions, he could tell that Lightning knew exactly what he was referring to. "So you can't lie and say you don't care about her. And we figured that if you like Fang that much, but act like you're ashamed of her… then you really must've loved those cooties. And we deserve an apology for being treated like crap over them."

Lightning just gave Snow a hard stare. For someone who she rarely saw eye to eye with, she had to admit… he sometimes had his moments. "Hphhh," she let out a light snort. "I'm sorry, you two. Maybe I should've given you guys a little more slack."

"Awwww, all water under the bridge, Farron!" Gadot cooed, wrapping a huge arm around Lightning's shoulder and pulling her into a sideways hug. Lightning grimaced at the contact and tried to squeeze away, but her escape was blocked by Snow, who wrapped his arm around her as well to sandwich her in. "Now when we go out places, we can use you as a wing woman! To scope out who's on our team and who's on yours."

"You're a pig."

"But Lightning… One more thing."

Lightning looked up at Snow, who had pulled away from the hug to face her again. "You might, uh, want to apologize to Fang before the weekend, you know. I hear she's moving out of town soon, and I'm sure she'd appreciate it. I've kinda had my own experience with having someone you like look at you like you're—like you're not one in the same, and it's not a good feeling. Fang's been getting those looks most of her life. She'd probably feel much better knowing that she doesn't have to worry about getting them from you."

"Serah…" Lightning thought aloud as she took in Snow's statement. Yes, her sister had become a bit more distant recently, but it never occurred to Lightning that she was not the only person who was being affected by it.

"Me and Serah will figure ourselves out," Snow excused, averting eye contact so as not see whether Light approved or not. "I think it's more important that you concentrate on settling things with Fang first."

"Okay," Lightning said with a nod. "But I might need the two of you do me a favor."

* * *

Lightning could spot the PSICOM cruiser the moment it turned into the school parking lot. "There it is," she stated, keeping an unwavering gaze on the vehicle as it slowed to a stop behind the long line of cars trying to maneuver their way out. "Do you guys have a plan?"

"A plan?" Snow asked, as he tossed a football to Gadot. "Heroes don't need plans."

"Then you two definitely need a plan."

"It's almost here!" Snow said excitedly, refusing to acknowledge Lightning's last statement. "Uhhh, Gadot! Go long!"

"Gotcha, big guy! Ready annndddd aye-ohhh!"

Snow took off into a sprint across the parking lot as Gadot tossed a high floater into the air. Lightning didn't move an inch, but studied the ball as it soared upwards, paused, and began its wobbly descent.

The PSICOM agent driving the cruiser never stood a chance. He would just shout in shocked horror as, out of nowhere, a buff bandana'd blonde kid would jump in front of his car, causing him to slap on the brakes in just enough time to still hit the boy. He would still be in his seat, taking long, hard, breaths, wondering how he couldn't have seen the boy coming, as the boy lay splayed out on the concrete, discreetly smiling to himself.

"Not bad. I can work with this," Lightning said with her eyes glued on the distressed driver as she and Gadot jogged towards the cruiser.

"You hit my friend!" Gadot started off in an accusatory yell as the PSICOM agent stepped out of the car. On the ground, Snow gripped his ribcage and let out a long moan. "I can't believe you hit my friend!"

"I-I'm sorry! He just flew out of nowhere! What was he even doing running in the—"

"This is bad. This is really bad." Lightning knelt down next to Snow before looking up towards the agent. "Do you know how much negative publicity this will bring if people find out that my dad sent a PSICOM soldier to run one of my classmates over?"

"What?" the agent asked. "That makes no sense!"

"Everyone knows that Snow's been trying to date my sister." Lightning now turned to scowl at the agent. "Dad didn't have to send someone to hit him with a car to make him stop. I hope the press eats him alive. And you'll probably get demoted or put on some dangerous, deadbeat shift without a partner for helping him out. I can't believe this."

"What do you mean? I didn't want to hit him!"

"Ugh… Hurts… so… bad…"

"C'mon, buddy," Gadot reached down to help Snow up. "How ya feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," Snow said, giving the agent a mean side eye glance. "But I'll survive. I think I need to see the nurse, though. Is she still here?"

"I better walk him to the nurse's office; talk him into not going public," Lightning stated, not even bothering to ask permission. "You just stay here and try not to hit anyone else. Think you can handle that?"

"I—"

"Good."

Lightning didn't spare the agent a second glance as she and Gadot helped 'support' Snow back into the school building.

* * *

"What's taking her so long? I can only pretend to be in the nurse's office with Snow for oh so long before my dad's babysitter comes looking for me," Lightning groused as she paced back and forth in the yard behind the school, her arms tightly folded against her chest. She stopped her pacing for a brief moment to glare at a couple of girls who seemed to be pointing in her direction. She let a deep breath flow from her nostrils before turning away to continue her pacing.

"Dane had to use the car today, so she had to take the bus back," Vanille explained. "For someone who doesn't drive, you sure don't seem to be familiar with the area's public transportation system."

Lightning stopped pacing again to now glare at Vanille, who quickly put on an innocent face and did her best harmless shrug. "Ooh! There is she is now!"

Lightning's head quickly flung around to spy Fang casually walking across the yard towards them, her eyes curiously rolling from Light to Vanille before settling on Vanille completely.

"Van," she finally greeted in a low voice. She stopped in front of the two teens and placed one hand on her hip, staring solely at Vanille as if Lightning didn't even exist. "There was an emergency?"

Vanille looked to Lightning with a shaky expression on her face while Lightning just eyed Fang with a reserved stare. "Umm, yeah," the redhead began, turning back to Fang. "Lightning said she needed to see you…"

"And I'm outta here," Fang muttered, spinning on her heel to leave.

"Fang, wait," Lightning said, taking a few steps after Fang. "Can you just stop and listen for one second?"

Fang spun around again on hearing the question, both her eyebrows lifted in a disbelieving expression. "Ohhh, so we're talking now?"

"I'll, uh, give you two some alone time. Fang, I'll be on that bench next to the flowers when you're ready to go," Vanille said, backing away from the two older teens. She tried to shoot Lightning an inconspicuous thumbs up, but decided against the idea when she noticed the reproving glare that Fang was giving her. She quickened her pace as she left.

"So," Fang began with a rough edge to her voice, "Should we take this under the bleachers or somewhere more private?"

"No." Lightning shook her head. Her brows were slightly knitted, as if there were some internal battle going on in her head. "Right here is fine."

"Okay. Then what's the emergency that ya needed to see me for? I don't wanna hang around here longer than I have to." Fang placed her hands on her hips as she asked the question.

Lightning thought for a moment more before answering. "Do you remember that conversation we had on top of your trailer? The one about how things wouldn't change if a became part of GC?"

"Yeah," Fang said. She watched the pinkette with a guarded expression. She had no idea what this had to do with anything, and just thinking of Lightning wearing a Guardian Corps badge would probably make her more peeved than she already was.

"I was wrong."

Fang tilted her head, even more confused now. "Huh?"

"What I mean to say is, I was taking the wrong approach. How things are right now… how we are right now… is wrong."

One of Fang's eyebrows flew up.

"But not in that way. In that, I've been wrong. I've been thinking that things between us are just fine the way they are and that they'd be just fine if we stayed like this if I went to the GC, but that's the problem. I've been treating you like something to be ashamed of, even though you've done nothing wrong, and that feeling is one of the issues at the root of this whole Cocoon versus Gran Pulse thing. And the worst part about it is that you're pretty amazing, and I actually kind of like you…"

"Awwwww!"

Both girls looked up to see Vanille still standing a few meters away from them, having stopped to listen in on what was being said before walking to the bench. Both Lightning and Fang's eyes narrowed into impatient glares, causing the younger teen to jump and start walking away again. "Sorry!"

Lightning let out a heavy exhale as she thought of where to pick up again. "I guess what I'm really trying to say is—"

"It's not all your fault."

Now it was Lightning's turn to look confused as Fang cut in to her apology.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting your private life to be private. And maybe I was looking to make a few scenes. It was kinda nice having everybody know that the prettiest girl in school was actually into me, ya know. So I wasn't really making it easier for ya, either."

"Fang, I don't think that's the same—"

"Look," Fang interjected again. "We've both said and done things that we obviously didn't mean, right? Things haven't exactly been looking up for us lately, and if things go south… I'd rather we weren't arguing when it happens. So you're sorry. I'm sorry. How about we just call it even now?" Fang reached out a hand. "Deal?"

Lightning stared at Fang for a second. There was something behind her expression that Fang couldn't quite place.

"Okay."

Light reached out to grasp Fang's hand and give it firm shake. Fang barely had time to lightly smile at the compromise before her body lurched forward, propelled by Lightning's quick tug of her hand, and she felt Lightning's lips pressing against her own.

"Deal."

"Ohmygosh!" a loud squeal broke out across the yard.

Fang's eyes bulged and her mouth slightly gaped as she stared at Lightning, who was calmly looking over her shoulder at the two girls who had been sitting on the other side of the yard. "Do you think they got a picture of us?" Lightning asked in an even tone.

"I—uh—I don't know," Fang stammered, still recovering from the surprise kiss that Lightning had laid on her. "Probably not." Even she hadn't expected the kiss. There was no way those girls could have.

"Hm." Lightning turned to face Fang again. "Then maybe they'll get one this time."

Light's hand reached up to lightly grab the back of Fang's neck and pull her down into a new, searing kiss. Almost instinctively, Fang's hands found Lightning's hips and tightly gripped them as Light's arms wrapped around Fang's neck to pull her closer and intensify the lip lock.

"Ya know…" Fang breathed when the two finally separated, "I'm not sure if they got a picture that go round either."

Lightning smirked and unwrapped her arms from around Fang's neck. "Cute, but I've got to go. My dad has a PSICOM cruiser waiting for me out front. He freaked out about me breaking curfew and has me on lockdown."

"So no Palumpolum?" Fang asked, obvious disappointment laced in her tone.

"No Palumpolum," Lightning shook her head. "But we still have the school day."

"Not exactly," Fang said in bit higher pitched tone, running a hand through her hair. "There may or may not be rumours tomorrow about an incident involving me, Alyssa, and a locker. Needless to say, I'm not gonna be here to defend 'em."

Lightning sighed and gave Fang a tired look. She didn't even want to know… "Then I guess we'll just have to part ways here. I'll go home, sit alone in my locked room, and think about what we would be doing if we were hanging out together… with my window open."

* * *

Leaves crunched and twigs snapped under her feet as Fang wove between the trees of the reservation forest. It was pitch dark outside and the canopies were thick enough to block out most of the moonlight, but Fang had walked this way enough that she knew the secret path by heart. It was the shortcut she would take through the thicker part of the wood whenever she wasn't driving to get to her living area.

She had initially planned to walk from Lightning's house to Sazh's shop to get a ride from Dane, but she had lost track of the time and ended up leaving too late.

A smile spread across her face as she thought about it.

Lightning's house.

After school, she had walked Vanille to Sazh's home, which was right above his shop actually, to babysit Dahj. She then headed straight for the pinkette's place, where she spent the next few hours.

For most of the time, all the two did was talk. A little bit about school. A little bit about how creepy Alyssa had gotten. A little bit more about how Serah had been acting lately compared to how if the apocalypse was happening, Vanille would still probably be skipping through it and singing show tunes. At some point in time, Lightning started polishing her invertible blade thingy, which led to a joke about whether Fang should be worried about Light's urges to stroke hard equipment… a joke that consequently led to a backhand smack in the stomach and ultimately led to a wrestling match on Light's bed. A few grapples, holds, and fleeting kisses later, and the two were laid out tired across the bed. That's when the real conversations started… mostly about their hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. Neither of them wanted to ruin the whole illusion by mentioning their visions, Fang's new temper, the chaos connected with them solving their focus, or the unknown uncertainties that awaited if they didn't.

Fang would probably still be in that bed, talking with Lightning if that PSICOM agent hadn't banged on the door, shouting something about new evidence from the forensics team that would keep Colonel Farron at work a bit later than usual. It was then Fang noticed how late it already was and decided that it was best to head back to the reservation before the colonel showed up.

Fang's smile widened as Light's voice echoed through her head, saying, "One more thing…" as Fang had straddled the window sill, ready to climb down. The pink headed girl lifted her hands to hold on to the sides of the window as she leaned forward to give Fang a goodbye kiss, and whew! Talk about a kiss… Fang nearly fell out the window.

WHOOSH!

A shiny blur flew over Fang's head, causing the girl to instinctively drop into a crouch and warily look about as she was violently brought back to reality.

She strained her eyes, but she knew she wouldn't be able to see anyone in this darkness. She couldn't hear any movement nearby either. With the number of leaves that littered the ground, she should be able hear if someone was trying to approach her. Never rising from her crouch, Fang took a slow and cautious step forward to look up in the direction that the shiny blur had flown. Whatever it was, it had been flung into the bark of a tree not too far from her. Fang squinted as she continued to study the object. There was something familiar about it… It was a handle. The handle of an axe that had been worn and modified to better fit the grip of its owner.

Fang let out an aggravated breath as she lifted back into a standing position. She knew exactly who that axe belonged to. "Seriously, Dane?!" she called out, not knowing exactly where the boy was, but knowing he was close by. "As dark as it is, ya don't think you might've missed and, I don't know, beheaded me?"

"You shouldn't yell," Dane's voice drifted from above. Fang looked up. She still couldn't see him, but she was certain that his voice had come from one of the larger trees in the area. "Come up here. And bring my axe."

Fang crinkled her nose and turned to look at the handle sticking out of the tree. "_And bring my axe_," she mimicked under her breath as she stood on her tiptoes and reached up to yank the handle from its lodged position. "No type of apology for almost taking my damned head off…"

With axe in hand, Fang walked over to the tree that she was now fully sure Dane was perched in and began her climb. She had to take a couple of breaks in between, finding it harder than she had first expected to climb while holding an axe. She was finding it even more tiring since Dane had apparently climbed all the way to the top of the tall ass tree. "Almost… there…" she puffed, when she had looked up to see Dane's leg dangling over the side of one of the higher branches. They were far up enough over the surrounding trees where the moon was able to provide enough light for her to see the boy clearly. He sat, one leg pulled up to his chest and his arm resting across it as he intently watched something in the distance, an expressionless look on his face.

"Fang," he said, still staring off over the trees, "Do you think Etro's real? Or any of those gods that they tell us about?"

"What?" Fang harshly wheezed as she stopped to take another breather.

"The powerful and compassionate Etro…" Dane's voice sounded empty as he spoke, something that slightly worried Fang. What was he doing up here? Fang took a deep breath and reached up to grab another branch. She was almost there. "Do ya think she really sees everything that goes on in the world like they say? That she listens to prayers and is always watching?"

"I don't know," Fang answered, reaching Dane's axe up for him to take before grabbing hold of the branch to hoist herself up. "Ya know, this almost sounds like a conversation I had with somebody about Santa Clau—what the hell?"

Fang had finally reached Dane's branch, but when she had gotten settled, she immediately caught sight of what he had been staring at. From their vantage point, they could both clearly see their living area in the distance. The space was completely flooded with armed PSICOM soldiers and their robotic guard dogs. She wasn't sure how she couldn't hear it before, probably too focused on her own heavy breathing, but she could now even hear the loud, mechanical barking accompanied by the pained screams of some of her people. She couldn't help but gape as she watched the soldiers pull families out of their trailers and force them to the ground in a line across the dirt, cuffing and frisking them before pulling them back up and pushing them through the doors of some unmarked vans. "Dane, what's going on?"

"Look at them… The second time they've forced us from our homes without a care in the world," Dane said, his voice beginning to strain from all the sadness it held. "At Gran Pulse Charter, they made us recite the words to their Cocoonian anthem every morning. Every. Single. Morning. Remember we used to get hit with a ruler if we refused to say it or messed up the words? And there was always that one line in the middle, 'Because all men are created equal'… Every morning they used to make us say it, but look at that. The words to their own anthem and they don't even believe it."

"Vanille…" Fang murmured under her breath, her mind automatically going to younger girl as her eyes scanned over the heads of the people who were currently being lined up on the ground. "Shit! Vanille!" She swung her head around to look at Dane with an alarmed look on her face. "Where's Vanille?"

"Still babysitting. Sazh had a date. I'm supposed to pick her up in an hour."

"Ohh, thank the gods…" Fang breathed in relief.

"Thank the gods?" Dane asked coldly, turning for the first time to look at Fang. His eyes were glassy and his face was trembling, fighting to hold back the pure rage he felt towards the situation. "How can you watch this and thank the gods for anything? When have the gods ever helped us out, huh? As much as Nille's been prayin' lately, do ya think Etro gives a shit?! Tell me, Fang, if Etro sees all, do ya think she's watching this?!"

Fang just gave Dane a long look, not being able to find any comforting words to tell the boy. She could feel her own chest beginning to ache and eyes starting to burn.

"When has Etro ever seen a Gran Pulsian in pain and decided to help, huh? When has she ever helped us with anything?! See if you'll ever see me thank the gods for anything again… We're going to make our own luck. We're going to free them, and take down any PSICOM son of a bitch who stands in our way. You keen?"

"Yeah." Fang could feel her body trembling as she tightly clutched the branch beneath her. She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now. Anger… Sadness… She just felt numb. Everything that was happening just felt so surreal, as if she was watching one of those disaster movies with the l'Cie group at Lightning's house instead of crouching in a tree, watching as the last of the reservation dwellers were thrown into those vans. "You know where they're taking them?"

"Overheard one of the soldiers. They're sending them to a containment facility in Eden in the morning."

"Eden?" Fang repeated, looking to Dane with a hopeless look in her eye.

"If we leave now, we can pick up Nille and find somewhere safe for her to stay, since I'm sure ya don't wanna bring her along."

"I can't go to Eden…"

"I would say leave her with Sazh, but we're gonna have to boost one of the cars from his shop for our first leg of the trip tomorrow morning."

"Dane, I'm serious. I can't go to Eden."

Dane stopped relaying his battle plans to stare at Fang incredulously. "Whatta you mean you can't go?"

"I just can't," Fang said, her brows deeply creased as she stared hard at the branch below her. She couldn't find the strength to look into Dane's face as she said the words. She could barely even take saying them herself. "If I go to Eden, there's a chance something really bad could happen, and I can't take that kind of risk."

"Something really bad DID happen," Dane said through gritted teeth. "And you don't seem to be bothered at all! Where were you even when this was happening, hm? With that Cocoonian girl you're so sweet on?"

"Why do you always have to bring her into this?"

"Because ever since you started seeing her, you've been turning your back on us! Your own people!"

"I haven't turned shit! Did ya even stop to think that maybe two teenagers going against an army of armed PSICOM soldiers might not even be a good idea to begin with?"

"There's a reservation in Eden, too! Ya don't think they'd help us if we told 'em what happened?"

Fang sighed and lifted her hands to her head. "Dane, I know you're hurting. Believe me, I'm hurting too. But I just can't go to Eden. If I could explain it to ya, I would. But I can't."

Dane released an audible breath, giving Fang a uncomprehending stare that cut worse than anything he could have thought to say to her. "Fine then. I'll go by myself. But here. Before you make a permanent decision, you should take a look at this." Dane reached into his back pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper and shove it into Fang's chest.

"What is it?" Fang asked. Her mind was so muddled that she could barely control her fingers well enough to even unfold the paper without a hassle.

"One of the soldiers dropped it. I was able to scoop it up without anyone seeing me before getting to the trees. It's what they came here looking for."

Fang finally managed to pull the paper open and she immediately had to bite her bottom lip to stop her face from totally crumbling.

It was a picture of her and Vanille. Vanille was staring, wide-eyed and excited, directly into the camera while Fang's face peered over her shoulder, wearing a more shocked an annoyed expression. The paper shook in her trembling hands as she continued study it. When had this picture even been taken?

And then it all came flooding back to her. That flash from the Bhakti look-a-like in the Vestige… It took a picture of them. PSICOM must've taken that robot when they did a sweep of the place and figured out how to power it back up and extract its data. PSICOM knew her and Vanille's identities, and they knew that they were l'Cie. And because of that, they arrested everyone on the reservation and were shipping them off to some special prison in Eden.

Fang was so caught up in her own feelings of remorse that she didn't even notice Dane slip down from the branch to start his climb down. "I'm picking up the car tomorrow morning at two," he said, just loud enough for Fang to hear him. "So if ya change your mind, you know where to find me."

* * *

"Claire!"

Lightning looked up from her desk when she heard her father thumping up the stairs. She cautiously approached her bedroom door, not sure what she could've done now to piss her father off since she had been locked in her room all day. She had barely cracked the door open before Colonel Farron pushed through to march straight to the middle of her room and look around.

"Dad? Something going on?" Lightning asked, watching her father pace around the room, opening her closet and dropping down to look beneath her bed. "Did you lose something?"

Colonel Farron didn't answer her but instead strode over to push the bathroom door open and peer inside. "Hmph," he grunted, closing the door behind him as he stepped back into his daughter's bedroom.

"Really. What's going on?" Lightning asked again, now somewhat concerned at her father's growing weird behavior.

Farron turned to give her a calculating stare. His eyes darted to the window, which was currently shut and locked, before landing back on Lightning. "Here," he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling a paper the size of an index card from his inside pocket.

With the flick of his wrist, he flung the paper so that it landed on Lightning's bed. Lightning took a step forward to pick it up and study it. Her jaw slowly began to drop in disbelief. It was a picture of Vanille and Fang with the line, "IDENTIFIED L'CIE. PROCEED AS NECESSARY," written in a thin white space beneath it.

"Something for you to consider," she heard her father mutter, before marching out the door.


	27. Chapter 27

Every year, Bodhum celebrated its founding day the exact same way. Downtown open markets in the morning. A carnival in the afternoon. And a brilliant fireworks show at night to close it all out. As fun as all of the events were, it was always the fireworks that drew the biggest crowd. There was something just magical about watching the sky light up with dancing figures of light that made most of the city want to crowd the streets and stare.

PSICOM had particularly been looking forward to this event. There would be more people in the square and less people in the streets, making them easier to search.

A particular group of young adults had been looking forward to this event as well. Although it held a lot of risk, there would be more people than usual in the square, making it harder for them to be picked out and identified by searching officers. Therefore, it was in the heart of the crowded square in downtown Bodhum that the young group of l'Cie now stood, awaiting the fireworks like everyone else around them.

Lightning looked over her shoulders warily, not really trusting the crowd as sufficient enough cover. She would've preferred their team meeting be held in her room, which was being so sloppily monitored by the PSICOM agent that she was sure he didn't even know she was missing, but since this was supposed to be Fang and Vanille's last night in Bodhum, the rest of the group voted that they should do something a bit more special. So they found their own ways to sneak downtown and meet on top of their usual building, where they finalized Snow, Fang, and Vanille's travel plans on how to sneak out of the city undetected.

A loud 'ahhhh' sounded from the crowd as the first few lights began to shoot across the sky.

"Whoa… Look at that one," Hope marveled, pointing up towards the sky as one firework turned into a dragon that swirled in bright circles around the stars. Lightning gazed at the sparkling reptile thoughtfully. She felt somewhat relieved that Hope was still able to relax enough to still just be a kid sometimes. She looked to her other side, curious as to whether Vanille was just as excited, but she found the look on Vanille's face a bit harder to identify. One corner of her lip was slightly tilted upwards and there was a somewhat hopeful gleam in her eyes as she watched the fireworks, but somehow, her expression still seemed morose. Not knowing that Lightning was watching her, the redhead looked down to her hands and closed her eyes, interlocking her fingers to murmur a short prayer to herself. The action almost made her look like a monk with the oversized hoodie that Snow had given her to better help hide her features.

As for Snow… she didn't know where in the hell Snow had run off to, but she knew that his ass had better show up before the fireworks ended so he could drive them home.

Then there was Fang.

Lightning first looked down to her hand, which was snuggly grasping Fang's. The two had been standing close, arms pressed together as they leaned on one another, and holding hands ever since they had stopped in the square. She didn't know who initiated it. She just knew that it had happened without a second thought from either of them.

Light's eyes traveled up from their conjoined hands to Fang's bare wrists, moving over the nylon sleeve covering most of her arm and continuing past the visible patch of skin at the top of her shoulder before hitting the top of her sleeveless shirt and moving further upward until they stopped at the rim of the baseball cap that was pulled down to cover half her face. Fang's chin was tilted up towards the sky. Even though the cap made her eyes barely visible, Lightning could tell that she wasn't paying attention the fireworks. Her mind was elsewhere, in the same place it had been all day… Eden.

As they had walked the short distance from the roof of the taco hut to the middle of the square, Fang told Lightning all about the PSICOM raid and Dane's rescue plan. As much as Fang was trying to hide it, Lightning could tell that all of the guilt was starting to wear her down.

Light sighed and let her eyes sink down from Fang's face to rest on her naked neck instead. It was weird seeing Fang without all of her jewelry (a sacrifice she had to make in order to look less Gran Pulsian), but she did find it a bit comical that the girl was still carrying all of her bands and necklaces around in a small sack attached to her belt loop because she thought they were too lucky to travel without.

Not being spurred by any reason other than just wanting to do it at that very moment, Lightning leaned her head to rest on top of Fang's bare shoulder before pressing her lips against the skin in a soft kiss.

"Mm?" she heard Fang lightly hum.

She looked up to see the girl's eyes shining down on her from the shadow of the baseball cap. "Everything okay?" Lightning quietly asked.

Fang's lips twitched in an attempt at an assuring smile. "Yeah. Just thinking."

"I know… You're worried about your people."

The rim of Fang's hat tilted downward in a guilty 'yes'.

"Don't beat yourself up about it." Lightning gave Fang's hand a comforting squeeze. "Dane seems like a resourceful guy. He'll get to Eden and rally the Gran Pulsians there. They'll be okay."

The hat twitched a bit as Fang's brow wrinkled beneath it. "What suddenly makes you so sure of Dane?"

Lightning half-shrugged. "He's a hardheaded Gran Pulsian. From what I've seen, they tend to be good at executing horrible plans and surviving them against even the worst odds. And right now, I'd really like my hardheaded Gran Pulsian to be focused on her trip tomorrow, because if Snow is the main one calling the shots for everyone, then they're all fucked."

Fang allowed herself to lightly chuckle. She leaned down to rest her head against Light's. She nuzzled the lower part of her cheek against the soft pink hair and murmured, "I'm gonna miss you. Ya know that, right?"

Lightning smiled to herself and slowly nodded. The fireworks were still popping above them, but she knew that it wouldn't be long before the show would end and they would have to say their final goodbyes. Now that PSICOM knew their identities, there was no way that Fang and Vanille could stay in Bodhum, and with Lightning's father being such a high ranked PSICOM officer, she would be jeopardizing all of their safety if she ran off with them. Lightning could only wish that they had more time…

"Are you two sleeping at Sazh's again?" The words seemed to slip out of Lightning's mouth.

"Mmhmm," Fang answered, lifting her head so that she was now looking into Lightning's face again.

"Well, if you want… you could spend the night at my house. Then Vanille would have a bed to herself at Sazh's and you could maybe share. With me. But only if you want."

Lightning could feel her cheeks burning red as the rim of Fang's hat slowly lifted in surprise at the offer. She kind of wished that she was the one wearing a hat that covered half her face instead.

"Are ya sure?" Fang asked, a slightly concerned look on her face as her thumb idly caressed the side of Light's hand.

"I'm sure," Lightning replied with a resolute nod.

Fang continued to study Light's face, almost as if she was waiting for the pinkette to suddenly change her mind. "Okay then." She gave Light's hand a gentle squeeze. "Yeah."

* * *

Fang lay horizontally across Lightning's bed. Her head hung upside down over the side as she rolled a plush ball around in her hands. Meanwhile, Lightning sat on the edge of the bed, twiddling her fingers and watching the other girl carefully.

She seemed to be lost in her own world.

Lightning quietly sighed to herself as Fang's face hardened into a scowl before gradually softening into a longer, more languished expression. It was a cycle that her face had gone through multiple times already as she lounged in different positions across the room.

"Fang."

Fang's head popped up on hearing her name.

"If you squeeze any harder, it's going to rip."

"Huh?" Fang stared at Light questioningly for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh." She loosened the vice grip that she had on the plush ball before simply tossing it over her head. "My bad. It's just—they're gonna get away with it. They always get away with it."

Lightning looked down at her lap, not really knowing what to say. Her father had been at the reservation raid. Her father was going to be a soldier who got away with it.

"Know what? Light, I'm sorry."

Lightning looked back up to Fang, confusion written across her face.

"I'm sure ya weren't expecting to listen to me mope about PSICOM all night."

"No. You've got good reason," Lightning replied in a quiet tone. "And it's better than any conversation I've had with Serah lately. When she's not avoiding me, she's talking about how great homecoming is supposed to be."

"That is this weekend, isn't it?" Fang asked, curling her body upwards into a sitting position. "Guess I'm sorry about that too. Messing up your whole princess swerve and all."

"Tchh. So I could be out with Lebreau trying to find the perfect dress to 'bring the boys to the yard'?" Lightning asked sardonically. "I think that's an experience I can live without."

"Heh." A soft smile passed over Fang's face. "I wouldn't have minded seeing that. Hell, I'd be the main one hawking you for a dance. I'd probably try to steal you away from your date or—"

"Fang."

Fang looked up to see Lightning's crystal blue eyes staring dead into her own.

"It would've been you."

"Oh." Fang's smile lingered. It was the longest smile Lightning had seen on the girl's face all day. "Of course. Then, uh, would ya mind if we had one right now?"

"Huh?" Lightning asked, an eyebrow slightly lifting.

"A dance. Since we won't be at homecoming."

"Like here? Right now?"

"C'mon," Fang encouraged, rising to her feet and reaching a hand out to Lightning. "Think of it as my going away present. And ya might not remember it, but at Snow's party, you did say ya were a good dancer. I can't go the rest of my days knowing I was this close to finding out whether it's true or not. …Please?"

Lightning stared at Fang's outstretched hand for a brief moment before relenting. She grabbed the hand and allowed Fang to pull her off the bed and into her body. Immediately, she felt Fang's hands loosely grip her waist as her own arms reached up to wrap around the taller girl's neck.

Lightning rested her head against Fang's shoulder as the two gently swayed back and forth together.

"See? This isn't so bad, is it?"

Lightning smiled to herself and lifted her chin so that it rested on Fang's shoulder. This actually felt quite nice. Fang's body was soft and warm and faintly emanated the smell of some perfumed soap that made Lightning want to bury her face in the other girl's neck just to get a stronger whiff. "It's not too bad," she finally replied. "A little weird, just dancing in the middle of my room with no music, but not too bad."

"Oh?" Fang asked in a soft yet playful voice. "You want music, do ya?"

"Don't ruin the moment, Fang."

"There is this one song I know…"

"Please don't."

"Tale as old as timeeeeee…"

"Gods…"

"True as it can beeeeeee… Not exactly friends, until Lightbright bent, when they became l'Cie…"

Lightning shook her head and sighed, finally giving in to the urge to nestle her face more into the crook of Fang's neck as the other girl continued to sway and sing.

"Just a little change… small to say the leeeaaasssstttt… both a little scared, and one has pink hair… Lightcup and the…"

Beast.

Lightning lifted her head as their swaying bodies slowed to a stop. She leaned back a bit to see Fang staring downwards at nothing in particular. That lost look was once again present on her face as she mulled over the last word of the song.

"Hey," Light said softly, pulling back a hand to gently cup Fang's cheek. Fang's eyes glumly lifted to meet Lightning's, and once again, Light couldn't think of a single word to tell her. So instead, she snaked her hand back around Fang's neck and pulled her down into a kiss.

Lightning could feel the hands that had originally been holding her waist snuggly wrap around her lower back and pull her in closer as she continued to coaxingly move her lips against Fang's. "Promise me," she murmured against Fang's lips when she finally found her words, "you'll be careful out there, okay? I like you just the way you are and… I don't think I could take it if something happened to you."

"I promise."

Suddenly Lightning was no longer on her feet. Fang's lips were on hers once again and her legs had somehow wrapped themselves around Fang's waist. Fingers dug into her thighs as the two moved across the room. Lightning lightly grunted when she was plopped down on top of her desk. Her hands were cupping Fang's neck while Fang was tightly gripping her waist, pulling it closer to grind against her own pelvis as she leaned forward between Light's legs.

"Mmm," Lightning groaned as Fang parted her lips to deepen the kiss. Her fingers started to rake up Fang's back on their own accord, at some point grabbing the bottom of the girl's shirt and pulling it upwards. Fang parted from Lightning's lips in order to fully remove the garment before lunging back in to attack the pink-head's neck.

A sharp hiss escaped Lightning's lips when she first felt the sting of teeth nipping at her neck, immediately followed by the warmth of Fang's lips sucking at her skin. Light tightened the grip that her legs had around Fang's waist as her hips rolled against the Gran Pulsian. "Fang," she breathed hotly, wanting more but finding their current position a bit cramped. "Bed."

And just like that, Lightning was off the desk and instead falling onto her mattress. Just as she hit the cushion, Fang appeared, hovering over her like a predatory animal. She grabbed both of Lightning's wrists and pinned them with one hand over her head while she dipped her head down to suckle the pinkette's earlobe before trailing hot, wet kisses down the girl's neck.

Once again, Lightning's hips began to instinctively roll, wanting so badly for something to address the pulsating between her legs. As if she could sense Lightning's frustration, Fang's knee quickly slid up the bed, between the girl's thighs, to grind against her. Lightning hummed in slight approval as her hands reached up to explore the front of Fang's body, roving over the girl's toned stomach until they reached the plump bulges on her chest. She felt such a rush of satisfaction on feeling the small tremors run through Fang's body as she massaged the girl's breasts through her bra. It was then that she stopped her ministrations to lightly push up on Fang's shoulder and remove her own shirt. Fang leaned back on her haunches, just watching in captivated awe as Lightning peeled off her clothes, but as Light reached down to undo the button for her pants, a tanned hand quickly reached out to stop her.

"Wait."

Lightning looked up to see Fang staring down at her, a questioning expression on her face.

"Are ya sure you wanna do this?"

Lightning took a hard swallow. Did she really want to do this? It was hard for her mind to come up with a rational answer when her body was screaming at her the way it was. "We might not see each other again."

Fang's expression softened at the statement. "I know… but this doesn't have to be the way we say goodbye."

Lightning searched Fang's face earnestly. She looked so concerned. Despite everything that she had been through, even the things that had been done under Colonel Farron's order, Fang was honestly looking out for Lightning. And Lightning realized then, whether Fang was leaving the next day or staying in this room forever, she wanted this more than anything in world. "I'm sure," Lightning finally answered, never breaking eye contact with Fang. "I want this. I want you."

Fang gazed at Lightning dumbly for a brief moment before leaning forward again. She didn't say a word, but slowly descended on the girl, connecting their lips in a heavy kiss. Light's whole body warmed at the feeling of Fang's mouth dominating hers in such a sensual fashion while her hands slowly rubbed up Light's legs, her thumbs slightly stroking her inner thigh as they moved up. Gods, she was damn near trembling with anticipation.

"Augh!" Lightning's body jerked as Fang's two thumbs pressed upwards to rub tight circles against her center.

"CLAIRE!"

Almost instinctively, Lightning's hands flew upward into Fang's chest, forcefully pushing Fang off of her and over the side of the bed when she heard her father's voice down the hall.

"Ow! What the shit was that?" Fang hissed crossly from her new spot on the floor.

"Claire!" Heavy footsteps could be heard thumping up the stairs as Colonel Farron's voice grew louder.

"Fang, you can't be here," Lightning stated worriedly. She quickly sat up and snatched her shirt from off her pillow to pull back onto her body. Fang just sat on the floor, a befuddled look on her face. "Fang!" Lightning said in a harsh whisper. "You've got to get up!"

"Can't I just hide under the bed?" Fang asked, peeking below the mattress. "Holy shit, it's like the land of the lost down there. Is there any room in the closet?"

"He checks the closet." Lightning had already jumped up from the bed and was hurrying across the room to pick up Fang's shirt from off the floor. "The bathroom too. Hide in Serah's room."

"Really?" Fang asked, as Lightning hoisted her up from the floor by her arm.

THUMP! THUMP! Lightning and Fang both froze on hearing the two loud knocks against the bedroom door. "Claire? I need to speak with you."

"Serah's room," Lightning stated, pushing Fang into the bathroom, her eyes still anxiously glued to the door. "Now."

"What do I tell Serah? We're not exactly mates, ya know."

"Be creative." Lightning leaned in to give Fang one last kiss before flinging the girl's shirt into her face and slamming the bathroom door, leaving Fang alone, half naked, horny, and somewhat confused.

"Wellllll, fuck…" Fang mumbled.

Nevertheless, she quickly pulled her shirt on and lightly tapped on the younger Farron's bedroom door.

"Serah?" she whispered cautiously, holding her ear against the door as she listened for an answer. From the other side of the bathroom, she could hear Lightning and her father's voices through the door. She didn't have much time. "Decent or not, guess I'm coming in."

Fang slowly turned the knob of the door and crept into Serah's room.

"Serah?"

No answer. The room was empty. Girl must've gone downstairs for something.

Once again, Fang could catch a muffled voice from Lightning's room drifting through the air. She looked over her shoulder to the bathroom door cautiously. If Colonel Farron was really in a door-opening mood, then it was probably best for her to play it safe, just in case. She turned to scan the room, looking for a quick hiding spot. Her eyes landed on the closet. It wasn't the most original of ideas, but it would have to do for now. Not wasting any more time, Fang darted towards the door and quietly slipped into the small room.

"Whew…" she breathed once the door had closed and darkness had fully surrounded her. She tried wiggling her arms around, but oddly, Serah's closet felt much more crowded and stuffy than she would've originally guessed. She couldn't blame the girl for the clutter, though. Who would've thought that she would end up hiding in the closet of little Farron's room? "Fuckin' Farrons…" Fang muttered under her breath, more upset over a certain itch that desperately needed scratching than her actual predicament.

"Fang? Is that you?"

"Holy shit!" Fang nearly jumped out of her skin and into a puffy pink coat that was hanging behind her on hearing another voice right beside her in the closet.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down. It's just me. Snow."

"Snow?" Fang asked, futilely squinting in the darkness of the closet. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? What are you doing here? This is my Farron's closet."

"I don't care what you're in the closet for! I'm just pissed you're in it at all! If Light catches you in here, then all my chances of getting any go kaput!"

"You can't blame—wait. Noooooo! You were about to get some? From Lightning? Seriously? I've been talking to Serah for at least twice as long and I'm not even close to getting any."

"If that's the case, then I really hope that pokey thing by my leg is a hanger."

"Huh? Oh, uh yeah. See? All gone."

"Mmmm hmmm. But riddle me this. I thought you and Serah were on the outs."

"We were. Until tonight. I borrowed a velocycle and asked her to meet me right before the fireworks. I guess you can say, things kinda took off from there."

"Well, good on ya. Just don't get your hopes up on getting action anytime soon. I swear, when we got arrested at the Vestige, Papa Farron must've put a lo-jack on my libido. Every time I get close to Light, he magically appears. Did ya know he was there for our first kiss…"

* * *

"Claire, there's something important downstairs that I need to show you. Are you busy?"

Lightning carefully looked over her father as he stood in the doorway. Something was different. His usually steely eyes were a bit more frantic, continuously darting to her window and back at her. His breathing seemed a bit more rapid as well. Something was wrong.

"Kind of," Lightning answered. She could still taste Fang on her lips and feel her warm hands running up her legs. She wanted nothing more than to just end this conversation with her father now and get back to exploring more of Fang, but the man was visibly shook, and that was no easy feat. Even if she couldn't always agree with him, he was still her father, and seeing him like this worried her. "But I can spare some time."

"Good. It's out by the jeep. Put on some shoes and come with me. Your sister is already downstairs waiting."

Lightning nodded and returned to her room to find her shoes. When she emerged, her father was waiting for her in the hallway. Lightning couldn't help but think that he somehow looked much older than usual as he leaned over the banister, rubbing his thumbs. "I'm ready," Lightning announced as she approached, still eyeing him with a worried expression.

"Good. Good. Um, Claire. One thing, before we go downstairs and meet your sister," the colonel gently placed a hand on his daughter's forearm to stop her from walking any further down the hall. "I want to give you something."

Lightning's brow furrowed curiously as she watched her father dig into his jacket pocket and pull out a silver, metallic band.

"A bracelet?" Lightning asked, looking over the plain piece of jewelry with an indifferent expression on her face. "I—uh, thanks, Dad, but Serah has always been more into bracelets than I have."

"It was your mother's," Farron asserted. Lightning's eyes widened in surprise, lifting to glance at her father's face before flitting back down to the bracelet. She remembered that her mother did like to collect jewelry, but she never remembered anything so dull and clunky-looking as this bracelet. She always recalled her mother being more of a lover of stones, whether they were expensive gems or just colorful rocks that they had picked up at the beach.

"It was mom's?" Lightning asked softly, still examining the metal ring in her father's hand.

"I know it seems a bit simple for her taste, but she used to love this bracelet. After she passed, I always knew that I wanted you to have it. She'd often say that of you and Serah, you definitely took most of my qualities, but I always saw it differently. There was always a fire within your mother, a fire that could never be tamed. It's what made me fall in love with her, and it's the same fire that I see burning in your eyes everyday, reminding me that you are your mother's child. I know that we've had our disputes lately, but I want you to know that I always have you and your sister's best interests as my top priority because there is nothing in this world that I love more than you two. And I thought that this would be the perfect gift to really let you know that."

"Dad…" Lightning looked up to her father with wide eyes. How many times could she become speechless in one day? "I-I love you, too."

Farron's lips curled into a half smile. He nodded his head downwards. Lightning took the cue and lifted her arm so that her father could snap the bracelet around her wrist.

"Now how about we go downstairs, hm?" Farron asked as Lightning twirled the bracelet around her wrist a couple of times, just staring at it with a hint of mysterious admiration. She found it curious that the clasp had seemed to meld into the band of the bracelet. She guessed that it was something created for a cool aesthetic effect and was probably the feature that made it so appealing to her mother.

"Yeah," she blankly agreed, following her father down the hall and stairs, all the while focusing on her new accessory… something that represented her parents' love.

Serah was waiting at the front when the other two arrived downstairs. She was tapping her foot and occasionally glancing upwards to the ceiling. "Is this going to take long?" she asked. "I've got a lot of work that I need to get back to."

"Don't worry about that right now," Farron said, checking his watch as he ushered his daughters out the door. "We've got more important matters to handle. Follow me."

Serah shot Lightning a hesitant look before pulling out her phone and falling in step behind their father. He didn't stop walking until he had reached the huge jeep parked in front of the house… a jeep that strangely wasn't the one he normally drove. He opened one of the back doors. "Get in."

"What?" Lightning asked, finally looking up from her wrist.

"Huh?"

"Get in," Farron repeated, this time leaning forward to pluck the phone from Serah's hand. "We're going on a trip," he stated as he quickly disassembled the phone and threw one of the small chips that had been inside of it over his shoulder.

"Right now?"

"Hey! My phone!"

Farron once again glanced at his watch before sternly looking to his daughters. "Haven't you two always wanted to take a vacation? Well, that's what we're doing. We're leaving Bodhum for a few days and taking a nice, long vacation. I've already packed clothes for the two of you and set up all the plans."

Both of the girls stared at the colonel incredulously.

"Are you serious?"

"Now's not really a good time. Can't this wait like an hour?"

"GET IN THE CAR NOW!" Colonel Farron erupted.

Serah's jaw dropped at the sudden outburst and her eyes widened in fear, as she anxiously looked inside the open door of the jeep. Lightning just gave her father a hard stare, watching as the man's face reddened to the point where it almost matched his hair. "Something's wrong," she stated. First the bracelet. Now this. Something was definitely amiss. "What's going on?"

"We don't have time for questions. Get in the car so we can leave. NOW!"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want to go. Not until you tell us what's going on."

"This isn't about what you want," Farron said in a low, threatening voice. "This is about you obeying your father and getting in the jeep because I told you to."

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I'm not going," Lightning answered firmly. "And it's not like your decision-making has been too great these past months anyway. I'm staying. I've got school in the morning."

Lightning turned to go back into the house but was immediately brought back by Farron's hand yanking her elbow. "Listen—" Farron's words caught in his throat as his eyes landed somewhere below Lightning's chin. His eyebrows crinkled curiously as he reached out to slightly pull down at Lightning's shirt.

"Is that a hickey?" Serah voiced from behind them.

Farron's eyes widened in horror before shooting up towards the second story of the house and slowly rolling back down to his daughter's face. "It's bad enough you're all over the net fooling around with that piece of trash," he growled, "but for you to have the nerve bring her into my house?"

"She's not a piece of—" Lightning froze in midsentence as the loud bleat of propellers reverbated in the distance. She looked past her father's shoulder to see the small outline of a PSICOM skytank, searchlights and all, travelling through the sky in their direction. "What did you do?" she breathed, her eyes glued to the sky. The tank was coming in fast. "I have to get back inside!"

"No. We're leaving." Farron pulled at Lightning's elbow before she could sprint back to the house.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Lightning flung back around to point an open palm straight into her father's chest.

The only problem was…

Nothing happened.

Lightning stared at her hand with a bewildered expression on her face. What was going on? She couldn't even feel that regular tingling that signaled her powers were at work.

"How dare you…"

Her eyes shot up in shock on hearing her father's sinister bellow.

"…try to use those gods forsaken abilities on me."

Her father's eyebrows were tightly slanted downward and his face had twisted into a malicious scowl. Panicky and not knowing what else to do, Lightning tried to twist around to thrust her free elbow into her father's gut, but the move had been anticipated. Her elbow was caught in her father's strong grip and a sharp sting pricked at her neck.

Lightning gasped as the world around her immediately grew blurry until it totally darkened.

* * *

"…and then he interrupted us that time when I wanted to have that personal talk with her, so of course he shows up right when we're about to get it on," Fang continued to grouse in the confines of the dark closet. "How can I be THAT unlucky? And—wait. What's that?" Fang stopped her grumbling when a small light flashed on in the closet, momentarily illuminating the small room.

"A message from Serah," Snow announced, thankful for the small break in their current conversation. "Their dad's bringing them outside to show them something important."

"Betcha no one's gonna interrupt him…" Fang muttered.

The two stood around in the closet for a few more moments before Fang finally emitted a loud sigh.

"It's getting stuffy in here," she stated before feeling around for the knob and swinging the door open. "Ahh, that's better. You know if Serah has any good magazines lying around—huh?"

"I know she's got a stash of fashion ones under her bed," Snow said as he stumbled out of the closet behind the Gran Pulsian. "And some of the models—"

"Shhh…" Fang held up a finger and stilled, seemingly focused on something that Snow wasn't picking up on. "Ya hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Fang's eyes suspiciously narrowed on the window. There was now an unmistakable beating sound coming from outside. Taking slow, deliberate steps, the girl crept up to the window and peered through the glass.

"Ohhhhh crap," Fang peeped, her eyes widening at whatever she had seen outside.

"What is it?" Snow asked as he curiously eyed the girl from the center or the room.

As if to answer his question, a blinding light suddenly flooded through the window, illuminating Fang's entire silhouette in the process. Fang froze in shock as she stared directly at the pilot of the PSICOM sky tank that was hovering outside of the Farron household.


	28. Chapter 28

"Get down!" Fang yelled, diving to the side.

Snow's body reflexively followed the order and hit the ground. The earsplitting sound of gunfire pierced the air accompanied by the shriek of shattering glass. Snow's hands reached up to cover his head for protection. Protection from the noise. Protection from the bullets. Protection from the falling glass. His mind couldn't process what the protection was for. His body just acted. Across the floor, he spotted Fang scrambling on her belly towards the bathroom door. Not thinking but just doing, he quickly followed suit, cringing at the loudness of the bullets that were still being fired into Serah's wall as he and Fang crawled through the bathroom and into Lightning's room.

"Fang?"

His mouth had formed the word but he couldn't hear a sound. All he could hear was gunfire. He wasn't even sure if the skytank was still firing rounds into the room next door, but the shots were still ringing in his ears.

"Fang!"

Fang was frantically pawing around the room as if she were searching for something. Lights passed over the curtained window, but no bullets had been fired into the room. Yet.

"Fang, what are you doing? We gotta go!" Snow's head ached as he began to finally hear the sound of his own voice.

"Here it is!" Fang's upper body disappeared under Light's bed for a moment before sliding back out with a medium sized carrying case. "Light's blade. She'll want it when—"

"Lightning?! Lightning's long gone! We need to start thinking more about ourselves here!"

"You don't know that!" Fang yelled, quickly spinning around to glare at Snow. "She's probably waiting downstairs for us to—"

"Fang!" Snow shouted, although it came out more like a cry. His ears thrummed with every beat of the circling skytank's propeller. It wouldn't be long before the house was brimming with PSICOM agents. "They don't want Lightning! They want you! As long as she's got the colonel, she'll be all right! You won't! We need to get out of here. Fast!"

"But…" Fang looked down at the case in her hands. Her mouth twitched through the deeply set grimace on her face, as she continued to stare at it. "Ya know a way out?"

"I'm a master at all ways of sneaking in and out of this house," Snow replied. He couldn't have masked the gratitude in his voice no matter how hard he tried. "Follow me."

Still in a crouching position, Snow darted past Fang and out of Lightning's door. The hallway was conspicuously silent, and even more conspicuously devoid of soldiers.

"No one's here," Snow said under his breath, keeping his eyes on the top of the staircase. "Why isn't anyone here?"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Fang whispered in reply. "Stop looking a gift chocobo in the mouth. How are we getting out?"

"Under that table. You can't see it from here, but there's an old vent thingy that leads to the basement. Follow me."

The bleating of propellers could still be heard circling the home as Snow pulled up at the opening of the vent and motioned for Fang to crawl in first.

Just as Snow had said, the vent brought them straight to the basement. From there, they climbed out of a narrow window and into some bushes in the Farron backyard.

"Can you get a good look at what's going on?" Snow asked, trying to keep low to the ground. He felt quite self-conscious about their current hiding place, mostly because he was a lot of boy trying to hide in a little bushes.

"Not really," Fang said, scanning the sky before straining her ears to listen to what was going on. "My guess is it's just the skytank. Must not have enough people in there to spare to send down on foot. Won't be long before back-up—Duck!"

Both teens dropped to their stomachs as the skytank flew over them, its wide searchlight running across the grass as it did so. Once the light had passed, Snow lifted his head from the bushes. "We gotta make a break for it."

"One step ahead of ya."

In a flash, the two l'Cie hopped out of the bushes and ran for the fence. Both took a powerful leap, easily clearing the structure before tumbling into the neighboring yard.

"Still clear?"

"GoGoGo!"

They broke into a crouched sprint across the next yard before hopping over the next fence.

"I think we can—"

"Get back!"

Fang grabbed Snow's shirt to pull him against the wall of the neighboring house as two PSICOM aerial recons zoomed over the yard. Sirens could be heard wailing from the street along with shouting and what sounded to be breaking furniture. Back up had arrived.

"Check this one!" a foreign voice called from nearby.

"Shit!" Fang hissed as the gate to the yard beside them clanked. "They're checking yards. The house! Get inside!"

Snow didn't say a word but rushed around the bend of the house, Fang tight on his heels, to try the residency's back door.

"Keep your eyes peeled!" a different voice called, sounding way too close for comfort.

"Fuckin' open the door," Fang urged. Her eyes were frenetically zipping around the yard, watching for any signs of movement, while her hand was quickly tapping against Snow's shoulder.

"It's locked," Snow whispered back. He jiggled the handle so that it made somewhat loud clacking sounds to prove his point.

"Something's in the back this way!" The foreign voice had gotten even louder.

"Fucking hell!" Fang pushed Snow out of the way and took the handle in her own hand. She gave it a good, powerful twist that ripped it straight out of the door before placing a hand along the glass to slide it open. "Get in."

Snow jumped into the house first and Fang squeezed in immediately behind him. She smiled with relief as Snow slid the door shut and closed the blinds behind it. "That'll buy us some—"

"What the hell?!"

Both Snow and Fang cringed on hearing a familiar high-pitched squeal from behind them. Fang had been too anxious to notice, but she should have recognized that yard the moment she stepped foot in it. It was Alyssa Zaidelle's.

"Snow, keep securing the perimeter," she whispered under her breath. "I'll handle this." She lifted her hand to twiddle her fingers before slowly turning around to face their host. "Alyssa, I know this looks bad, but I'm gonna need you to keep your voice down. Now."

Alyssa stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the two intruders with a harsh, calculating stare. "You're breaking and entering!" she accused. "With like a million PSICOM soldiers outside, for Etro's sake! Could either of you be any dumber?"

Snow turned his head to give Fang a worried look. He was aware of the rocky history between the two girls, especially of late. Although Fang was gifted with sabateur abilities that made her the smarter option in making sure Alyssa stayed out of their way, he still wasn't sure if Fang were in the right state of mind to be the one in charge of quieting her.

"Luckily for you," Alyssa continued, "This is the most exciting thing to happen in this neighborhood since you tongued Lightning down on the sidewalk."

Fang's brow scrunched offensively at the statement.

"So come on. I've got a front row seat, and you do NOT want to miss this. Ugh, stop being dweebs and quit looking at me like that. It'll be fun."

"Uh…" Fang shot Snow an astonished look, and the boy just shrugged. He was just as confused as Fang. "Are your, uh, parents home? I mean, they won't mind two strangers sitting at the window, watching a police raid? Like they'd be cool with us being here?"

"They're not home. They left for some art exhibit thing in Nautilus this weekend," Alyssa stated matter-of-factly. She made a motion for the two of them to follow her while she led the way to the front of her house.

"Really?" Fang asked skeptically, letting her eyes scan the room as she walked. "Isn't it your lifelong goal to become homecoming princess or whatever? They're not gonna be here to help with the dress or send ya off with their blessing or something?"

"It's the Mont'de Chocolina exhibit," Alyssa replied icily. "You can't just go see it whenever you want. An opportunity arose and they took it. Our maid can help me out with my dress and make-up anyway. She's done it for the last few dances, so she has a better idea of what I like."

"Oh…" Despite her mind shouting against it, Fang couldn't help but feel a little bad for Alyssa. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Alyssa knelt on a couch that faced one of her front windows and nodded her head to signal for Fang and Snow to do the same. "Wow, there's so many of them… What do you think they're looking for?"

"Something I hope they don't find…" Snow muttered as his eyes scanned over the multitude of PSICOM soldiers that had crowded their court. "Hey, uh, Fang? Sit tight and try not to get so close to the window. Remember what happened last time? I'm gonna call Hope."

"Don't sit so close to the window?" Alyssa echoed in a mocking tone. "What? Are you wanted by PSICOM or something?"

Usually, Fang was a master at playing things off. She had to be since she had dealt with being stopped by Guardian Corps officers most of her life. But with the horrible luck that she had been having tonight, she couldn't contain the fleeting look of surprised guilt that had crossed her face when Alyssa had made that joke.

"Oh... em… gizzle. You are?! What did you do?! Does this have something to do with the steroids you're on?"

"What?" Fang immediately went into defense mode. "I'm not on steroids! And it's none of your business!"

"Did you kill somebody?"

"No!"

"Stole something?"

"No!"

"Flashed someone important?"

"Why's that even an option?!"

"Hope says they're starting to search houses. He's got the keys to his other house, but we have to find a way to get them," Snow announced as he walked back to the sofa. "What's going on with you two?"

"Fang's a criminal. Surprising, I know."

"Oh, eat a dick."

"You told her?!" Snow exclaimed in disbelief.

"She guessed!"

"How could she guess that we're PSICOM's most wanted?"

"You too?" Alyssa leaned forward with a totally giddy look on her face.

"See. Not so easy flying under the radar, is it?"

"Alyssa, " Snow sighed, turning away from Fang to solely focus on his other classmate. "I know it's hard to believe, but the fate of Cocoon is resting on our shoulders. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is doomed if PSICOM catches us. So please, I'm begging you… help us find a way to sneak out of here. We won't say you helped us or anything and you'll never have to worry about Fang again."

"Hey!" Fang shot, glaring at Snow.

"Hmmm." Alyssa looked from Snow to Fang with a thoughtful expression on her face. "And they call me the drama queen… But I guess that'll work out in your favor. You need to get to the poindexter's house on the other side of the court, right? Well, how about you use me?"

"Huh?" Snow asked. That had taken a totally unexpected direction.

"Use me as a hostage while you get across! With that much PSICOM, there has to be at least a few news cameras out there broadcasting everywhere. Bodhum, Palumpolum, Eden… maybe even Nautilus. I'm just saying, with so many people possibly watching, they couldn't risk hurting an innocent, right?"

Snow rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Fang for input. Fang just shook her head doubtfully. "I'd be too tempted to actually kill her."

"Well fuck you too, Raggedy Ann—"

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

All heads turned towards the front door.

"PSICOM! Open up!" a gruff voice called.

Fang's stomach dropped. They were here.

"Quick! Up to the attic! There's a chain on the ceiling that should pull down the attic stairs!" Alyssa was shouting at them in frantic whispers while pushing them towards the staircase.

"What's in the attic?" Fang asked, her feet automatically hurrying along the trail that Alyssa had set them on.

"A door to the roof. Maybe you can get out from there."

"This house is like three stories! What the fuck kinda exit is that?"

"I don't know! A better one than the front door, apparently! Didn't you swing from high places on vines and shit on Pulse?" Alyssa hissed. "Figure something out!"

Fang grit her teeth and made a step to walk back down the stairs to chew Alyssa out, but Snow caught her in his arms and hoisted her over his shoulder to carry her up the rest of the way. On the top floor, they followed Alyssa's instructions and pulled down the chain for the attic steps. Below them, they could hear the front door bursting open as PSICOM soldiers bustled into the house. The thudding of footsteps was just beginning to reach the stairs when the two l'Cie had shut the attic door and were making a break for the small hatch that led to the roof.

Snow climbed out first, to make sure that the coast was clear, before helping pull Fang up. Luckily for them, the skytank wasn't circling around the court but instead just hovering in front of the Farron household. Both teens laid on their stomachs and crept to the roof's edge.

"That's some crowd," Fang breathed as she peered down. The Farron house was completely taped off and flooding with soldiers while heavy groups of other PSICOM operatives ran from house to house. "We're gonna need a plan."

"We're heroes," Snow said in reply, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "Since when do heroes need plans?"

"Huh?" Fang's head flung around to curiously eye the eye the boy as he held the phone to his ear.

"Yeah? Hope? Do you think there's any way you could sneak next door to my yard? Yeah… You'll see a velocycle… When you get there, turn the ignition, aim it up to the Zaidelle house, find a way to stick the throttle, and let it rip. The antigrav battery is pretty low, but it should be enough to keep it in the air til it gets here… Thanks, buddy. Just hang tight… We'll meet you there."

Snow hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, a light smile on his face.

"What did you just do?" Fang asked suspiciously through narrow eyes.

"Possibly found us a way out. Think you're up for making a scene?"

"Well, ya know how the old saying goes. When on Zaidelle property, do as the Zaidelles do. That and I'm guessing I ain't got much of a choice."

"Good."

Snow planted his hands to the tiles of the roof and slowly got to his feet, while Fang cautiously did the same at his side.

"Aim slightly right," he instructed, pulling his hands up from his sides. They were glowing a bright blue color and misting with frost.

Fang just nodded and pulled up her hands as well while conjuring a ruinga spell.

"NOW!"

Fang let it rip, blasting a ruinga spell into the asphalt below, right near a group of PSICOM soldiers, while Snow instead aimed an ice spell into the sky. Soldiers flew from the ground, crashing a few feet away as the asphalt exploded beneath them, causing it to rain mid-sized asphalt chunks that injured even more soldiers as they came down. Around them, thick layers of ice looped through the air before rushing to the ground, tearing through more asphalt and sending other PSICOM soldiers flying out the way.

"This is cute!" Fang shouted, quickly summoning more ruin spells into her hands to aim at the soldiers who were now frantically looking around, trying to figure out where the blast had come from. "But I don't think we can stay up here doing this forever!"

"No problem. Here we gooooooooo!"

"Wha?"

Fang eyes darted to a large, mechanical projectile that was flying in their direction. A velocycle. Fang quickly looked down to shoot another large ruinga blast below as some of the PSICOM soldiers began noticing the two figures on the roof.

"Fang!" Fang turned back around just as Snow jumped over the side of the roof to land on the empty seat of the flying motorcycle. He jerked at the handlebars and removed a rubber band that had been wound around the throttle. "Jump!"

The sharp clack of bullets once again began piercing the air, so without much thought as to whether this could be a good idea or not, Fang sprinted to the edge of the roof and leapt.

"AUGH!" she grunted as her butt clumsily plopped onto the seat behind Snow. There was another aching thump to her rear as the wheels of the motorcycle roughly dropped onto the icy swirls that Snow had created just moments earlier. In front of her, she could vaguely hear Snow shouting directions at her, but his voice was overpowered by the popping of PSICOM guns along with the loud shattering of the heavy clumps of ice that broke off from the frozen sky road as the heavy velocycle rode over it, crashing to the ground and knocking out the PSICOM soldiers below. Feeling that she had an idea of what he wanted, Fang lifted both her hands and started throwing out ruin spells left and right. Snow continued to steer the velocycle with one hand while continuing to create more ice road with the other.

"Fall back! Fall back!"

Fang could barely make out the shout, but she could clear as day see the skytank beginning to ascend further in the air.

"We did it—ugh!" Snow stopped talking to rear back his fist and punch an aerial recon who had been bold enough to rocket up aside their velocycle. He only took a brief moment to watch the soldier spiral down to the ground before continuing, "Hold on!"

Fang tightly gripped Snow's waist as the motorcycle quickly jerked to the right. The court was a mess of broken asphalt intermingled with ice and unconscious PSICOM bodies. She had always known that their powers were a force to be reckoned with… but she had never thought they were this strong.

"Ugh!"

There was a loud screech of metal as the velocycle swerved from the ice path and spun into a landing position in someone's backyard. Fang loosed her grip on Snow to look back to the sky. She couldn't see the tank from their new spot on the ground, but she could still hear its propellers bleating in the near distance. It wasn't leaving. It was waiting, keeping a watchful eye on all activity in Candy Court while more reinforcements showed.

"Snow! Fang!"

Fang lowered her chin from the sky as Hope rushed out the back door of the house. His face was paler than usual and she swore she had never seen his eyes so wide.

"I have the keys!" His hand shot out from his side with the keys to his Palumpolum home pinched between two fingers. Fang thankfully took them as she swung her legs over to get off the bike. "But I was listening in to the PSICOM radio transmission. There's more coming. A lot more. You've got to get out of here!"

"We need to find a way back to Sazh's without being followed," Fang stated, looking over to Snow. "Fastest way to make ground would be on the bike, but I'm sure they'd have every watch dog in Bodhum looking out for that thing. And that skytank out there would stick to us like stink on a sewer rat if we left on it."

"Yeah, you're right…" Snow rubbed his chin. "Maybe we can create a diversion. I take the bike and detract PSICOM while you get Vanille. Once I lose them and ditch the bike, I'll meet up with you at Sazh's. If I take too long, head to Palumpolum without me."

"Ya really expect me to make it through the city undetected on foot?" Fang asked skeptically. "That'd take forever."

"Maybe not," Hope cut in, gaining him the attention of both older teens. "I think I can help. You see, Vanille's been helping me practice it, but I never really thought of a good way to use it."

Fang arched an eyebrow. "What're ya talking about, Hope?"

"It's a spell I know. We call it 'haste'. When I touch people, I can make them go faster. Maybe if I use it on you, you can get away from here and get to Vanille faster."

"Hmm," Snow hummed thoughtfully. "It might work."

The three l'Cie paused and looked to the sky. The beating of the skytank was starting to grow louder once again, which could only mean one thing. It had gotten the back-up it had been asking for.

"Good idea or not, we gotta use it. Alright, little man." Fang held out her hand towards Hope. "Hit me with your best shot."

Hope stared at Fang's hand shakily. Fear was still clearly evident on the boy's face. He took a deep breath and caught Fang by surprise by moving around her arm and lunging in for a hug instead. "Please…" he said, his voice muffled from his face being buried in Fang's shirt, "…don't get caught." As his arms squeezed her sides, Fang could feel something changing within her. It was hard to explain, but she just felt… on. The sounds of the beating skytank propellers in the distance sounded more dull and dragged out, and it almost felt as if her heart was about to beat out of her chest.

"Fannnggggg."

Fang looked to Snow, who was already sitting on his bike with his hand gripping the throttle. "Arrrreee youuuu readddyyyy?"

Fang nodded.

"Oooookkkkaayyyyy."

The bike revved before gliding forward. Fang's head turned as she watched it go. It looked to be moving at a dull pace, but it obviously had enough force to burst through the wooden gate and into the court. Once Snow had left, there were multiple whistling noises that Fang guessed to be gunshots. Her hands tingled as she summoned two ruin spells to them. It was show time.

Fang shot out of the yard through the hole that Snow had previously created. The boy was currently at the end of the court, making wheelies with the velocycle to knock over a crowd of PSICOM soldiers while simultaneously pelting them with quick ice spells. Fang moved her hands up to shoot a number of ruin spells at many of the soldiers who were out of the spinning velocycle's reach, hoping to clear a path for Snow to drive through. The effect of the spells was mind-boggling. White bulb after white bulb continually flew out of her hands, almost as if machine guns were connected to her wrists, and within no time, the majority of PSICOM foot soldiers had already been cleared out.

With a loud roar, Snow reared up on the velocycle and zoomed forward while Fang took off in the opposite direction. Everything around her zipped by at a nearly impossible speed as she flew over two gates and found herself running through a sparse grove trees until she reached the highway below.

* * *

"Ayyyeee!" Fang gasped for breath as she slowed to a jog on the corner of Sazh's shop. Not too long ago, all of her surrounding started taking on normal form again instead of just blurred colors as her body slowed back to its normal speed. She had been tailed part of the way of her journey by some PSICOM officers, but they hadn't been able to keep up. It didn't help that they had sent most of their heavy vehicles, such as their skytank, after Snow and the velocycle.

Gods, she hoped he was all right… The plan was to leave if he took too long to come back, but how long was too long when you were worried about a friend?

"Huh?" Fang halted on the sidewalk as she jogged up to Sazh's shop. The metal garage door was pulled open and crookedly bent out at the bottom… Someone had forced it open.

"No…"

Fang's skin began to prickle as her feet automatically picked up speed again to bring her into the garage.

"Sazh?" she called cautiously. Her head flung from one side to the other around the dark room. Tools had been thrown across desks. Papers were scattered across the concrete floor. Metal shelves and all their contents were strewn across the ground. "Old man? Vanille?" she called again.

She froze and could feel her whole face beginning to tremble when her eyes landed on the splintered door in the corner of the garage. It was the door to the steps that led to Sazh's home above the shop. "No, no, no, no, no," Fang repeated under her breath, rushing to what was left of the door.

"VANILLE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if anyone heard her or not as she flew up the stairs. "Vanille, answer me! Sazh! Dahj!" She checked every room. Looked into every closet and under every bed, but it was no use. There was nobody home.

"Vanille!" she cried out again, her tone sounding much more dejected than frantic as the reality of everything began to sink in. She couldn't think. She could barely breathe. They were gone. No one was home. She mindlessly drug her feet back through the house to enter Dahj's room. The bed had been overturned and flipped up to lean against the wall, the mattress slit down the center. The covers were balled up and thrown into a corner and the floor was littered with clothing from the closet.

Fang dropped down to sit Indian-style on the floor. There was a prominent ache in her chest, but aside from that, the rest of her body felt numb. She stared up at the ripped mattress against the wall.

That had been Vanille's bed.

When she and Vanille had asked Sazh if they could stay at his place for a couple of nights, Sazh had agreed without question. He was just that kind of guy. He would complain and yap their ears off about their language, weird habits, and questionable life decisions, but he had always been there to help them out when they were in need. It was that paternal instinct that made him agree to let them stay at his house. He had even given them Dahj's room, saying that Dahj and him could bunk together so that nobody would be forced to sleep on the floor.

Fang's eyes ran down the long split in the mattress. Vanille had always been a contact sleeper growing up. She just needed to touch someone to sleep comfortably. It could be something as small as just poking someone with her big toe or something big, such as bear hugging in her sleep; she just needed some sort of contact. Fang had always suspected it had something to do with her parents' deaths, but it was something she never questioned. She just lived with it. She could picture Vanille now, as she sat cross-legged on the floor, trying to convince Dahj to sleep on that mattress with her tonight instead of with his father. It was a campaign she would've started the moment she got back from the fireworks since she knew Fang would be spending the night at Lightning's… leaving her alone.

A loud clanking sound from below caught Fang's attention. Her head slowly turned around to the door of Dahj's room and she climbed to her feet.

"Fang?" Snow's voice called up from the garage. "Fang, you here?"

Fang took a hard swallow and began her walk back down to the garage.

"Man, what happened here?" Snow asked as he heard Fang's footsteps coming down the stairs. He wandered around the garage, inspecting the damage.

"They're gone."

"What?" Snow looked up and his eyes grew in slight alarm at the totally forlorn look on Fang's face.

"They took 'em. They're gone."

"Fang, we don't know that." Snow maneuvered around the front end of a car in order to close the distance between him and Fang. "If we could escape a PSICOM raid, so could they. And it's not like PSICOM would just leave the garage untended after raiding it. Unless it was some sort of trap—ohhhh, crap. We need to get out of here." Snow reached to grab Fang's wrist and lead her back to the garage entrance, but the girl defiantly yanked her hand back.

"No."

"No? No what? Fang, if you're right and Vanille got caught, PSICOM will be ready to pounce on us in any second! If I'm right and she didn't, then the faster we get to Hope's place, the faster we see her again!"

"I'm not leaving without her," Fang replied with her eyes on the ground. Her chest was beginning to rise and fall with slow, powerful breaths, and her arms looked to be slightly trembling as well. "I can't leave her alone. I promised."

"Fang, there's nothing you can do for her now," Snow said sternly, hoping to get through to his comrade. "The smartest thing—"

"NOTHING I CAN DO?!"

Snow futilely gasped for air as fingers tightly clamped around his throat and his back slammed into the wall behind him. "Feehhhnnn," he tried to wheeze, tears inadvertently beginning to blur his vision as Fang gripped his neck with one hand.

"DON'T TELL ME THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO!" Fang roared. "If PSICOM wants a piece of this, then I'll be waiting here to give it to them!"

Snow clawed at Fang's hand, trying to pry her fingers away, but it was to no avail. His eyes darted to Fang's face, but the look there gave him less hope than he expected. Her features had contorted into something totally ghastly. It was Fang, but at the same time it wasn't. It was something much worse. And whatever that thing was, it was not going to let go of his throat.

"Boys, stand down! It's her!"

Snow vaguely registered a new voice entering the garage as he tried to pool enough power into one of his hands as a hail mary act, something he could possibly use to zap Fang with to make her let go.

"Fang! Boy, am I glad to see you! We been looking all over for you!"

"Huggghhhhh!" The burning sensation of air quickly filling his lungs as his knees hit the ground totally took Snow off guard.

"You…" Fang growled, maliciously eyeing the young man who had stepped into the garage. She remembered him very well, with his rugged facial hair and cocky build. Rygdea was his name. He was the PSICOM cadet that Colonel Farron had admired so much that he tried to fix the young man up with Lightning.

"Fang, my men have this place secured for now, but we don't have much time. We need to move you to a safe zone before Rosch gets wind of—"

"You PSICOM bastard!"

An acute pain shot into his stomach as Rygdea went flying across the garage, tumbling across the hood of a car before landing into a heap on the cement. Fang's lips curled up into a nasty snarl as she strode over to the spot where Rygdea had landed.

"Ughhh," Rygdea groaned. He held his stomach with one hand as he tried to get to his feet. "Fang, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help!"

"HELP?!" Fang roared, never breaking stride as she got closer to the cadet. "Just like ya helped Vanille?!" With one hand, she reached under the fender of the car that Rygdea had just bounced off of and flipped it over as if it had been a cardboard box. "I oughta—oomph!"

Like a speeding bullet, Snow shot out from behind a different car to slam into Fang's side, tackling her to the ground. Rygdea took this chance to scramble to his feet. "Boys! Aim and hold! And remember, shoot to stun! Not to kill!"

"NO… SHOOTING!" Snow coughed as he continued to wrestle with Fang. He originally held the advantage by catching her off guard, but he couldn't see himself keeping the upper hand much longer. He tried to pin her hands down, but she was too strong. One fist reached out to deck him across the jaw. His body reeled over to the side but his knees still had a firm grip around her waist.

"AHHHHHH!" Fang roared as she reached for one of Snow's wrists with her free hand and slung him off to the side and into a wall.

"Fang, this is madness," Rygdea tried to reason as the teenage girl slowly rose to her feet and set her sights back on him. Before Fang could take a step, however, Snow was on her again. This time he jumped on her back and wrapped an arm around her windpipe. Fang wildly bucked in an attempt to throw him off. When that didn't work, she began to wildly ram her back into different walls. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to take much more of a beating, Snow's mind quickly flitted to the last time he had seen someone directly incapacitate Fang. He quietly apologized to Fang in his head before sending a powerful lightning spell through the arm latched across Fang's neck.

"Yaaaaahhhhh!"

Fang's body convulsed, but she remained on her feet. Snow could feel her body shaking beneath him as she continued to stagger forward. He just gripped tighter and continued to pour electricity into her body, feeling his own strength weaken as he used more and more of his magic.

Finally, the girl dropped to her knees.

Snow released the grip around Fang's neck and stumbled away to stand behind her. He felt too drained to fully stand upright, but even in his bent over position, he kept one hand still aimed at her back. Fang's body trembled, but it was evident that she still had enough juice in her and was fighting the tremors in order to stand again. Snow only took his eyes off of Fang when he heard a multitude of simultaneous clicks echoing from the front of the garage. He turned his head and froze. There was a small army of men in PSICOM uniforms, weapons raised and pointed at the two of them, blocking the entrance to the garage. In front of them, still holding his side, was the young man who Fang had attacked earlier.

"Another l'Cie?" the man asked, or more like groaned. "I thought it was just Fang and Vanille."

"V-V-Vanille," Fang chattered through trembling teeth.

"I'm sorry, Fang, but there was nothing I could do for her. Rosch found out that this Sazh Katroy was known for hiring a few Gran Pulsians under the table to do work for him. He had a special recon squad come to scope the place out. They found Vanille and took the whole family in. I was able to get his men to clear out while mine 'took watch' but I can only hold this spot for so long."

"W-what did they d-d-do to Van-ille?" Fang's eyes lifted to fiercely glare at Rygdea. She wasn't even fazed by the number of men pointing guns at them.

"She isn't harmed," Rygdea assured, lifting his hands. "My boss has a lot of power with the PSICOM bigwigs. He convinced them not to harm her until you were taken in as well. That way, PSICOM could inform the public of l'Cie presence after y'all were already caught and do a public execution. It'd bolster the public's faith in PSICOM and wouldn't cause an uproar."

"Execution?!" Fang once again tried to get to her feet, but stumbled back down to her knees instead.

"Don't worry. We won't let that happen. We don't take our orders from the Sanctum scum like the rest of PSICOM. We're the Cavalry. And we're gonna help you save Vanille."

"The Cavalry?" Snow's eyes lowered suspiciously. "Who is your boss?"

Rygdea looked over his shoulder, past some of his men and out the garage, before turning back to the two l'Cie. "It's actually a long story and we're short on time. So how about I tell you all about it in my cruiser? Just as long as y'all are willing to play nice, that is."

Snow looked down to Fang. Her teeth were clenched and bared in a tight-jawed scowl, but her body wasn't shaking as much. Her head turned upwards to look at Snow, and there was something just familiar in her eyes that let him know that she had come back from whatever dark place she had gone to before.

"Okay," Snow nodded, turning back to Rygdea. "Let's go."

* * *

Fuzzy.

That was the best word to describe it.

Her mouth felt fuzzy. And a little dry. Her vision wasn't too focused either. She wasn't sure where she was. Her body was lying flat against a cushioned seat and there was a slight rumbling beneath her.

She was in a car.

She blinked a few times, waiting for her vision to clear a bit more. The car was dark. It was nighttime. She was on the back seat. Low murmurs were drifting back from the front of the vehicle.

Lightning felt nothing but tired as she rolled onto her back to look at the ceiling. She could tell that it was a PSICOM jeep from the interior. Her dad and Serah must be the two voices from the front. Where were they driving? It was rare for her dad to drive them anywhere nowadays, and it had probably been years since their last vacation.

Vacation.

That word seemed to stick to the forefront of Lightning's mind. That was it. They were finally going on a much needed vacation. But to where? She stared hard at the car's ceiling as she thought about it.

Anywhere. They were going anywhere. Dad had packed their bags for them and had readied a special car. Time was of the essence and they had to leave now. All she needed to do was say goodbye to Fang first—

"Fang!" Lightning rasped. She tried to sit up, but her body just felt too heavy, so her back just dropped back down to hit the seat. "Ugh…"

The murmuring from the front seat abruptly stopped and the car momentarily filled with silence.

"You're awake," Colonel Farron's voice said pointedly from the driver's seat. "That was much qicker than I expected."

Lightning turned her head towards the front of the car. Her eyes rose to the rearview mirror and she could see her father's stern blue eyes staring dead at her. The passenger seat shook a bit before Serah's face turned to peer back from around the cushion. Her eyes were wide and glassy and her eyebrows were slightly knit. She looked scared. Or confused. Maybe both.

"This isn't…" Lightning groaned, finding it a bit harder than she expected to form words and push them out, "…my first date with tranqs."

"And if you try anything foolish before I stop this car, it won't be your second either," Farron smoothly replied. His gaze in the mirror left her to shift back to the road. The side of Serah's lips pulled down to a frown and her eyes descended to the floor of the jeep before she slowly turned around to face the windshield.

Lightning took a deep breath and twisted her head around to further study the vehicle's interior. It wasn't her dad's usual jeep. It was a new one. From the feel of the ride, she guessed that it was a much heavier, bulkier vehicle. Probably something that was normally used to transport important cargo. Maybe even important prisoners.

"Dad…" Lightning took a hard swallow and turned her head to look back into the rearview mirror. "When—I mean… For how long? How did you know?"

Farron's eyes darted to the rearview to look back at his daughter for a brief moment before falling back to the road again. "I make a living off of tracking suspicious activity. And you may think that just because I'm not always home that I don't notice what goes on in your lives, but I do. With all the weird behavior after the trouble at the Vestige, your new infatuation with Pulsians, and the breaking of curfew on nights when l'Cie activity had been reported, the idea wasn't too much of a stretch. That, and your new friend talks too much. One conversation alone with her and I was able to surmise the rest. Hopefully she'll do us a favor and keep her mouth shut about you in custody, at least long enough for us to find you a cure."

Lightning's chest constricted. "She was caught?"

"Shit, Claire! Now is not the time!" Farron exploded from the front seat. "She was the one who got us into this mess in the first place! She's the one that got you turned! And if it weren't for that disgusting video of the two of you on your school's website, you wouldn't have even be implicated in this! What bothers me the most is that she even convinced you to keep this a secret from me!"

"You're twisting it around the wrong way."

"Oh! So she didn't coerce you to meet a fal'Cie? And she didn't convince you to hide it from me? What? Did she tell you all kinds of stories about how your own father would have you sent you away because that's what PSICOM does?"

Lightning remained quiet. She could argue with her father, but she didn't know what she could even say. Fang had indeed instructed her multiple times in multiple different languages not to tell Colonel Farron about their situation. "I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you first… I guess the bigger issue might be why it was so easy for her to convince me not to."

Farron growled from behind the steering wheel, but it was Serah who timidly spoke next. "A cure? There's a cure?"

She had shifted in her seat so that her body was fully facing her father. Her eyes had grown impossibly wider as she stared at the man expectantly. Farron grunted, still seething over his eldest daughter's statement, before answering, "Possibly. I've been talking to some scientists who I freed from a terrorist prison camp years ago. They agreed to work under the radar to help find one, but they need untainted l'Cie blood in order to see if it works."

"Untainted?" Lightning asked. She had turned her head to face the ceiling again, not wanting to catch her father's eye. Whatever he had drugged her with was still prevalent enough in her system to numb some of the feeling in her limbs, but it couldn't stop the heat that flowed to her face and the uncomfortable churning in her stomach as her mind kept flicking back to the thought of PSICOM tearing through her house in search of Fang. In their eyes, the girl was already tainted. And of course she would resist arrest. Lightning tightly shut her eyes and took a hard swallow. She wouldn't let them get away with it. Not this time.

"You don't have any idea what being a l'Cie does to your body, do you?" Farron asked.

"You get a brand."

"Yes. You get a brand. A brand that changes over time, as you probably know already. But do you know what happens when that brand fully forms?"

Lightning didn't reply.

"I guess even your Pulsian friends didn't warn you of that. You turn into a monster. Some wretched creature that's not dead but not alive. It's just there, a slaved soul who thinks of nothing but its focus until it withers away or is put out of its misery. The beginning steps of that final transformation is what taints l'Cie blood, Claire. I don't know how far along you are, but the quicker we get you cured, the quicker we can be free of this whole fal'Cie mess once and for all."

"So if their cure works… everything goes back to normal?" Serah asked.

"Nothing will go back to normal," Farron answered gruffly. "But abnormality is something I can live with as long as my children are safe to live it too."

"Light—erm, Claire."

Lightning looked back to the front of the car. Serah had turned around in her seat to face her again.

"I'm sorry… I told you that I'd help, but instead I got scared… and I cut you out."

Lightning's brows scrunched in confusion at Serah's statement. She used her elbows tp prop her upper body up on the backseat, finding it easier to move her body as she spent more time awake.

"She wasn't alone, you know. Snow was there when we left. So when you find Fang, tell him that I'm sorry too."

"Serah?"

Serah gave Lightning a wry smile before releasing a shaky breath and looking back towards their father. Her eyes studied his face for a moment before dropping down to the steering wheel.

Lightning's eyes widened in realization. "Noo." She tried to twist her body to the side, hoping to roll herself off the seat in close enough range where she could reach out and grab her younger sister. "Serah, don't—"

Serah's hands shot out from the passenger seat to quickly jerk the steering wheel hard to the left. There was the loud screech of tires mixed in with her father's shouting and the crumpling sound of metal. Lightning's stomach flipped as she fell from the seat, twisting in the air, to hit the ceiling of the jeep, before flying to the back to hit the interior of one of the back doors, and flipping over again to be on the floor as the vehicle tumbled down whatever terrain it had been veered off into.


End file.
